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.