Hurricane’s trip to Capital for a high school baseball game Tuesday didn’t start well, but it left Sam Carpenter Field at Cougars Stadium with a 21-2 win in five innings.
Hurricane didn’t have a hit against Cougars starting pitcher Grant Barclay until the fourth inning, when Hurricane broke the game open with 17 runs on eight hits, including a three-run triple by Bryce Shirkey.
“It was a good ball game until that one inning,†Hurricane coach Brian Sutphin said. “In the first inning, I thought we had a couple of good swings, but we went 1-2-3. The second time around, it looked like they made an adjustment.â€
Capital (3-11) also didn’t collect a hit until Luke Bibeau singled in the second inning. The Cougars, however, manufactured two runs in the first when Barclay was hit by a pitch, Jace Wilkinson walked and Christian Youngblood and Jalen Garnes each collected sacrifice RBIs to put Capital ahead 2-0.
Meanwhile, Barclay cruised on the mound through three innings, walking two and striking out two to keep Hurricane off the scoreboard.
“Hurricane, teams like that, are going to find a way to hit,†Capital coach Steven Lewis said. “If you can get through [their lineup] once with no hits, you’re doing good.â€
Hurricane finished with 10 hits — including three triples — and 19 free passes. Four Capital pitchers combined to issue 17 walks and hit two Hurricane batters.
Hurricane’s Weston Smith ended the no-hit bid by Barclay with an infield single. Smith had been jammed by Barclay’s pitch, but no one covered the bag when Capital first baseman Dean Kelly fielded the ball.
A groundout moved Smith to second, and Hurricane opened the floodgates. The next 18 batters reached base, with only a force play at home plate on a ground ball with the bases loaded and a strikeout getting the Cougars out of the inning.
Hurricane batted around twice in the inning, with Shirkey collecting four RBIs in the frame — three on his one-out triple. Shirkey followed that up later in the inning with an RBI single.
In the fifth, Hurricane sent 10 batters to the plate and scored four more runs to set the final score, with Tyler Baxter adding a three-run triple. Baxter’s blast to right-center hit off the wall, narrowly missing a grand slam.
Larry Hodges started on the hill for Hurricane and lasted three innings, but the long fourth inning his teammates spent at the plate on a cold night ended the outing sooner than anticipated. Hodges struck out three and had two earned runs.
Ryan Bowman pitched an inning and struck out all three hitters he faced. Freshman Braydon Dunkley worked the final inning.
Smith collected three hits to lead Hurricane, while Shirkey and Weston Sutton each had two.
Shirkey’s four RBIs led Hurricane, with Baxter and Luke Young each driving in three. Smith and Sutton knocked in two apiece, while Braylan Hutchison, Griffin Dempsey, Wyatt Gautier and Judson Witt had one RBI each.
Youngblood led Capital at the plate, going 1 for 2 with an RBI. Garnes also had a sac RBI.
HURRICANE 000 (17)4 — 21 10 0
CAPITAL 200 00 — 2 3 1
Hodges, Bowman (4) Dunkley (5) and Dempsey, Witt (5). Barclay, Flower (4), Robinson (4), Chapman (5) and Garnes.
