CHARGER CLASSIC: Chargers blow past Lions

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on April 22, 2017 11:26 PM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

Wayne Country Day has let good opponents slip through its grasp this season.

Against Lawrence Academy -- who boasts a 17-0 record -- the Chargers blew a 7-3 lead. On Friday, WCDS gave up a 6-2 lead versus Kerr-Vance, a team with a 12-2 mark.

Saturday's matchup brought forth a 10-win Statesville Christian squad. This time, the Chargers put their foot on the gas. WCDS used a seven-run fifth inning to envoke an 11-1 mercy-rule victory on the final day of the Charger Classic.

"We've been talking to them since (Friday's) game, this morning and then before the game started -- we've talked about finishing," WCDS head coach Michael Taylor said.

"Finish. Finish. Finish."

Like the previous games against Kerr-Vance and Lawrence, WCDS jumped to an early lead.

In the first inning, Case Kermode stole second base, and eventually scored after two wild pitches. Jack Talton scored off a bad throw in the second, and Jon Bryan added a two-RBI single in the third.

The Chargers built a 4-0 lead through four innings -- a point where their advantage usually begins to crumble.

WCDS gave Statesville chances. The Lions stranded three runners in the second and grounded into a double play in the third. The Lions scored in the fifth frame and loaded the bases, but they ran into another double play.

"(Statesville) kept creeping," Taylor said. "And the momentum was going into their favor right there."

Any momentum that the Lions had gathered in that inning was forcefully washed away by the Chargers. The first five WCDS batters reached base in the bottom of the fifth -- all of them hits, including a two-run bomb by Amane Godo.

The other five runs scored thanks to a fielder's choice groundball, RBI doubles by Jack Talton and Avery Browning, a balk and a game-ending RBI walk by Godo.

"We finally had some good quality at-bats," Taylor said. "A lot of those were two-strike hitting too. And that's something as the year goes on, we've got to continue to work on and put teams away instead of letting them hang around."

Browning, Bryan, John Strickland and Mitch Turnage led the team with two hits apiece. Strickland went five innings, allowed four hits and struck out four batters. Turnage -- who is batting over .600 this season -- injured his other hamstring while running the bases, but he stayed in the game.

With three games left in the regular season, Taylor said he would like to see improvement in a defense that committed seven errors in the past two games. He also must figure out where to put the injured Turnage.

But WCDS finished the Charger Classic with a 2-1 record, which was a satisfactory performance in Taylor's eyes.

"Not bad," Taylor said. "Not bad at all...(Saturday) I thought was the best day of all three days. And especially in that fifth inning where out bats finally came alive."