West crushes Pisgah!

West: 1 0 3 0 7 3 x — 14 15 3

Pisgah: 0 3 1 0 0 0 x — 4 6 3

Winning pitcher: Tyler Austin (3-2) (2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 0 BBs)

Losing pitcher: Will Leatherwood (2 1/3 IP, 8 R, 6 ER, 9 H, 0 Ks, 1 BB)

Leading hitters: West — Austin 2-for-3, home run, double; Jesse Ivens 1-for-2, home run; Daniel Hyatt 2-for-2; Dillon Baker 1-for-2; Matt Roberts 2-for-2. Pisgah — Wesley Pope 2-for-4; Josh Piurowski 2-for-3, home run.

Highlights: This was a Western Athletic Conference game.

Records: West, 13-4, 5-1 WAC; Pisgah, 7-7, 2-4.

Next game: West, Monday vs. North Buncombe.

Falcons pull off win over rival Knights

By Jeremy Trantham
Times-News Staff Writer

Published: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 11:50 p.m.

Neither of West Henderson’s first two pitchers made it out of the first inning and the Falcons still found a way to pull out a 14-8 home victory over rival North Henderson on Tuesday.

By the time Tyler Austin became the third Falcon right-hander to take the mound in the top of the first inning, North had a 5-0 lead with the bases still loaded. With two outs, North’s Cameron Brogden then lined a laser to center field on Austin’s first pitch but a spectacular diving grab by Zack Beard robbed Brogden of extra bases and at least two RBIs.

West starter Daniel Hyatt and reliever Dillon Baker combined to issue five walks in the first.

“I thought Tyler did a nice job in a tough spot. He didn’t have any warm-up pitches,” said West coach Jim Hyatt. “The strike zone was about the size of a dime in the first inning. North showed up to play at game time and we waited until about 30 minutes later.”

The Falcons finally started chipping away at North starter Kevin Searcy in the third inning. Austin’s two-run home run capped a four-run frame to pull West within one run.

After North scored twice to stretch the lead back to 7-4 in the top of the fourth, West took the lead for good with five in the bottom half with the help of one of four Knight errors.

A bad defensive night for North was highlighted by a lost fly ball, which resulted in a three-run double by Jesse Ivens, in the bottom of the sixth. Ivens’ two-out hit capped a five-run sixth as the Falcons put the game away.

“We’re lucky that we swung the bats well enough to overcome a five-spot (in the first),” Hyatt said. “We’ve not shown that we can do that, so I was pleased with that.”

West wraps up the first swing through the Western Athletic Conference with a 4-1 league record while North drops to 1-4.

“We’re not taking advantage of opportunities, other teams are taking advantage and that’s sort of been the story of it,” said visibly frustrated North coach Bill Rice.

Austin picked up the win, allowing just two hits and three runs in 6 1/3 innings of relief.

All nine Falcon starters scored at least one run. Hyatt and lead-off hitter Tyler Isgett scored three apiece.

Searcy, who became the first Henderson County senior to commit to Blue Ridge Community College this season, took a tough-luck loss. He was charged with nine runs, five earned, on seven hits in six-plus innings. The right-hander struck out nine.

“Kevin pitched a hell of a game,” Rice said.

Brogden walked three times and scored three times while Jordan Brunelle, Hunter Donaldson and Jacob Maxwell had run-scoring doubles.

North will host rival East Henderson on Friday while West has a non-conference game at home today against Tuscola.

Linescore

;;;;;r;h;e

North:;5 0 0;2 0 1;0;—;8;4;4

West:;0 0 4;5 0 5;x;—;14;11;2

Winning pitcher: Austin (6 1/3 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 5 Ks, 5 BBs)

Losing pitcher: Searcy (6 IP, 9 R, 5 ER, 7 H, 9 Ks, 3 BBs)

West wins over Smoky Mountain

West Henderson 21

Smoky Mountain 10

r h e

West: 0 7 5 0 2 8 x — 21 20 3

Smoky: 0 0 5 0 5 0 x — 10 10 3

Winning pitcher: Taylor Reeves (3 IP, 5 R, 1 ER, 7 H, 3 Ks, 2 BBs)

Losing pitcher: Lee (2 IP, 9 R, 9 ER, 7 H, 1 Ks, 4 BBs)

Leading hitters: West — Forrest Koontz 2-for-4, HR, five RBIs, Daniel Hyatt 2-for-4, HR, three RBIs, Matt Roberts 4-for-5, two RBIs. Smoky Mountain — Hodgin 2-for-3, Mincey 2-for-3.

Records: West, 9-2, 3-1 WAC Smoky 2-2 WAC.

Next game: West, Monday vs. McDowell in West’s spring break tournament.

West blanks East

By Stephen Roper
Times-News Correspondent

Published: Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 11:18 p.m.

For at least the first inning of Wednesday’s game against East Henderson it looked like the West Henderson’s recent hitting woes would continue on Wednesday when the Falcons went three-up, three-down. But with Daniel Hyatt’s lead-off single in the top of the second, West Henderson (9-2, 2-1 WAC) got their groove back and blasted three different Eagles pitchers for a convincing 11-0 Western Athletic Conference win.

“We’ve had a couple of our guys struggling with their bats lately,” West coach Jim Hyatt said. “And I think Brevard kind of woke us up and made us focus a little more on our hitting.”

That renewed focus was evident. Hyatt’s lead-off single in the second began the Falcons’ offensive turnaround. Right behind him was Tyler Austin (2-for-3, double), whose single to right field maintained the momentum. Taylor Reeves put the first run on the board with a grounder down the third-base line, driving in Hyatt. Reeves finished the night going 2-for-2 with two RBIs.

A long shot to center by Zack Beard drove Jesse Ivens in, giving West an early 3-0 lead.

The Falcons, however, weren’t done yet. Hyatt, who finished the night going 3-for-3, led off the bottom of the third with a double to center. Reeves’ sac-fly brought Hyatt in and Zack Beard drove two more Falcons in with a single to right. An infield error by East provided Beard with an opportunity to reach home, giving West an 8-0 lead.

“Hitting is weird,” Hyatt said. “It’s like shooting a basketball: you’re shooting good so you think you’re playing good, and if you’re hitting good you think you’re playing good.”

Not only were the Falcons on point offensively, their performance on defense was just as impressive as they held East (4-8, 1-2) to just five hits. A large part of that was Hyatt’s pitching, which saw him throw a complete game shutout with six strikeouts and one walk. Wednesday’s performance improves his record to 6-0.

Coach Hyatt hopes the torrid hitting streak carries into today’s game against Smoky Mountain, but he knows his team has other strengths to fall back on should the need arise.

“You can always play good defense, and hopefully we can always pitch it well, but hitting we’re just going to have to take it when we can get it,” he said. “Tonight we had it.”

For East Henderson, Matt Dorn finished the night 2-for-3 with a double. The Eagles will host Pisgah today in another conference game.

Falcons top the Bulldogs

By Jeremy Trantham

Times-News Staff Writer

Published: Friday, April 3, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 11:38 p.m.

Unable to find the bats on Thursday, West Henderson still found a way to win.

The Falcons scored four runs on just two hits to claim a 4-3 non-conference home victory over Murphy. Taylor Reeves pitched five solid innings to get the win while Tyler Austin picked up the save to cap a stellar overall effort.

Austin provided both Falcon hits, made two outstanding plays from deep in the hole at shortstop and came on to relieve Reeves in the sixth with the game in the balance.

“I think probably when you win a game 4-3 with only two hits, and those by the same player, you’re fortunate to get a win,” said Falcon coach Jim Hyatt. “Their guy threw it well but he got in trouble with some walks, they made some mistakes behind him and we were able to score some runs.”

Murphy starter Josh Coker struck out eight in seven innings, but the left-hander was undone by stretches of wildness.

Dillon Baker drew a one-out walk in the second and moved to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball, allowing him to score on Austin’s single up the middle. An error helped West load the bases and Matt Roberts picked up an RBI walk to plate Austin.

A pair of two-out walks to Roberts and Zack Beard in the fourth, along with two passed balls, a wild pitch and a balk, gave the Falcons two addition runs. Reeves and Austin made the offensive output, such as it was, hold up.

“We didn’t swing the bats well. We didn’t adjust well at the plate, but we made some plays defensively and I thought Taylor Reeves battled hard for five innings,” Hyatt said. “Then Tyler Austin came in and did an outstanding job.”

Reeves took a 4-1 lead into the sixth inning when he ran into trouble, allowing a single and a walk before giving way to Austin. With the tying run at the plate, the senior got two quick strikeouts before Luke Charles cranked his third double of the night to score Coker. With the tying run in scoring position, the Bulldogs got one more run on an error before Austin induced a weak grounder to the mound to end the threat.

He allowed just two hits in two innings while striking out four.

“Tyler had a great game,” said Hyatt. “He came in and he throws a little harder than Taylor and I thought they had a hard time catching up to his fastball.”

Charles led Murphy’s offense, which out-hit West 7-2, with a three doubles and two RBIs in three at-bats. Coker was 2-for-4 with a run while Brooklyn McKeon walked and scored twice.

While Coker struck out eight he also issued six walks.

“They’re a solid team,” Hyatt said. “They deserve their billing.”

The Bulldogs, unbeaten in Big Smoky Mountain Conference play, drop to 5-3 on the season. West moves to 8-1 as Hyatt picked up career win No. 401 at the school.

The Falcons will travel to Brevard for a key Western Athletic Conference game today, weather permitting. Dillon Baker, limited to designated-hitting duties on Thursday because of an illness, is the projected starter.

Linescore

;;;;;r;h;e

Murphy:;0 0 0;1 0 2;0;—;3;7;1

West:;0 2 0;2 0 0;x;—;4;2;2

Winning pitcher: Reeves (5 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 5 Ks, 1 BBs)

Losing pitcher: Coker (6 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 8 Ks, 6 BBs)

Save: Austin (2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 4 Ks, 0 BBs)

West blanks Pisgah

By Jeremy Trantham

Times-News Staff Writer

Published: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 11:39 p.m.

Seeking a good start to Western Athletic Conference play, West Henderson sent its most experienced pitcher to the mound.

Senior Daniel Hyatt delivered with a six-inning shutout of visiting Pisgah on Tuesday in the Falcons’ 10-0 victory. Junior Taylor Reeves provided the big blast with a game-ending two-run home run to left field in the bottom of the sixth.

“It’s always big to win the first conference game, especially when you’re at home,” said Falcon coach Jim Hyatt. “You’ve got to win those.”

West moves to 7-1 on the year and 1-0 in the league. Pisgah drops to 5-4, 0-1.

Hyatt allowed just five hits and one walk while striking out nine.

“The key thing for Daniel tonight was that his curve ball was working,” coach Hyatt said. “He got ahead of hitters early and unless he hung his curve ball they weren’t going to hit it. When they got runners on base he was able to bow his neck, get a couple of strikeouts and then we were able to make some plays behind him.”

The win sets up a highly-anticipated game at Brevard, which handed West a rare WAC loss last season, on Friday.

“We might throw (Daniel) the last two (innings) against Brevard depending on the situation,” said Hyatt. “We’ve got three other arms. The reason we lined up our pitching this way is we want to win our first conference game. We can’t win our second conference game until we’ve won the first conference game.”

West claimed the early lead on RBI doubles from Forrest Koontz and Dillon Baker in the first. The Falcons scored at least one run in every inning on a night when Coach Hyatt said the team didn’t hit as well as he thought they could.

Every Falcon reached base safely at least once and eight of the nine starters scored at least one run. Sophomore Baker, the likely starting pitcher against Brevard, went 3-for-4 with a run, two doubles and two RBIs. Reeves was 2-for-3 with two runs and a team-high three RBIs.

Most of the damage came against Black Bear starter Lucas McCracken, who allowed six runs, five earned, on six hits and four walks in four innings. He struck out three.

Pisgah’s Wesley Pope was 2-for-3 with two doubles. Brian Curry also had two hits in three at-bats.

West added a game for Thursday against unbeaten Smoky Mountain Conference contender Murphy.

“Murphy comes in with some pretty high billing,” Hyatt said. “The weather is killing everybody and I felt like if we didn’t stick a game in there somewhere we might be minus a game. I don’t know if people are going to able to make up games if the bad weather continues. Towards the end of the year we may have to drop a game. I don’t want to do that to somebody, but I think the weather’s going to take care of that for us.”

Linescore

;;;;;r;h;e

Pisgah:;0 0 0;0 0 0;x;—;0;5;1

West:;2 1 2;1 2 2;x;—;10;8;1

Winning pitcher: D. Hyatt (6 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 H, 9 Ks, 1 BBs)

Losing pitcher: McCracken (4 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 Ks, 4 BBs)