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)
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