BASEBALL: WCDS steamrolls Ridgecroft

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on March 11, 2017 11:39 PM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

Wayne Country Day's Case Kermode struck out to begin Friday's game against Ridgecroft.

The next seven batters behind him?

They all reached base and scored a run.

The rout was initiated early, and never stopped in the Chargers' dominating 17-1 victory over the Rams.

WCDS scored those 17 runs in three innings -- seven in the first, six in the second and four in the third inning. The Chargers also scored 17 runs in its season opener against Grace Christian on Tuesday.

"We hit the ball early in the game," said WCDS head coach Michael Taylor. "In that first inning, we took advantage of their mistakes, and I thought we hit the ball hard. That's what I'm looking for, and just working on good plate approaches."

The game was played without senior leader Mitch Turnage, who is currently out with a lower body injury. However, the Chargers didn't seem to miss his bat too much.

The beginning of the game unraveled so quickly that Ridgecroft starting pitcher Zeb Askew only lasted one-third of an inning.

Thus began the pitching carousel for Ridgecroft. After Askew, five more pitchers entered the game. All six hurlers combined to walk 15 Charger batters.

Even though Kermode struck out to begin the game, he ended the day with a double and five RBI. John Strickland, the clean-up batter, notched two hits and two RBI.

But leading the offensive charge was Jon Bryan in the seven hole. The senior went 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI.

"I thought Jon Bryan hit the ball well," Taylor said. "He squared the ball up well today...I challenged the guys, with Mitch Turnage out right now, that someone is gonna have to step up."

Defensively, four WCDS pitchers -- Amane Godo, Ryan Smith, Zack Barfield and Bryan -- combined to allow just one hit, five walks and nine strikeouts. The Rams didn't get that hit until the fourth inning when Ridgecroft's Jacob Lane registered a single.

The comfortable lead allowed Taylor to work players into different positions and give them valuable experience.

"I mean you look at Smith, Barfield and Bryan, they've never really thrown a varsity game until today," Taylor said. "They really hadn't thrown much in a game until today. That's gonna pay off dividends in a couple weeks from now when we do need them to get in there and have some confidence."

The Chargers played Coastal Christian on Saturday and open Coastal Plains Independent 1-A Conference play at home Thursday against Community Christian.