New Kent outlasts Warhill 17-13 for first baseball win
Winning the hard way best sums up New Kent’s grasp of its first Bay Rivers District baseball victory. The host Trojans trailed Warhill’s visiting Lions 8-0 in the second inning, but a pair of seven-run frames put the hosts in command on the way to a 17-13 triumph.
The April 2 decision ended New Kent’s five-game losing streak, handing the Trojans a 1-5 record.
“It wasn’t pretty,” New Kent coach Ronnie Cox said. “It was a messy game. But the kids have been playing hard against good competition and they really wanted to win. I’m real proud of the kids.”
New Kent had to overcome a bleak beginning. Al Hammill started on the mound for the hosts, but lasted only two-thirds of an inning. Warhill scored five runs in the first and added three more in the second off reliever Ryan Patterson.
New Kent, however, reduced the deficit to one in the bottom of the second and had a lot of help from the Lions in doing so.
Warhill starter Kevin Alvarez, who had cruised through the first inning, walked four straight batters with one away and bounced a pitch off another to force in New Kent’s first two runs.
Alvarez was lifted for reliever Tommy Gill who got the second out, but then with the Lion infield playing deep, Jimmy Newcomb’s lazy pop-up dropped behind the mound for a single, scoring another run while keeping the sacks full.
Steven Allen followed with a towering drive that left fielder Michael Ferguson apparently misjudged in the clear, blue sky. The ball bounced off Ferguson’s glove as three runs scored to cut the gap to 8-6. Allen, meanwhile, escaped a rundown between second and third to keep the inning alive.
Hammill then grounded to second, but another Lion error enabled Allen to touch home for New Kent’s seventh run. For the frame, the hosts scored seven runs on only two hits.
Warhill, however, began to pull away again in the third after Patterson issued a pair of one-out walks. Alvarez singled to center to drive in one run and chase Patterson. Cox brought in Newcomb from second base to take over on the mound.
The first batter Newcomb faced, Brandon Lyons, poked a two-run single up the middle, handing Warhill an 11-7 lead. But Newcomb struck out the next two batters and fanned the side in order in the fourth. He finished the game with 11 strikeouts and never ran into trouble until the seventh and final frame when he surrendered two hits leading to Warhill’s last two runs.
“Jimmy came in and shut it down. He stopped the madness,” Cox said. “Once he came in, it settled things down for us. We settled down as a team and got the bats going at the plate.”
New Kent scored twice to open the third inning and loaded the bases with two away. B.J. Fox then stroked a two-run single down the left field line to overtake the Lions, and Derrick Curtis followed with a ground rule double to right to drive in the go-ahead run. Joey Bell’s high fly to shallow right popped out of the glove of right fielder Mike Basilico, enabling two more runs to score for a 14-11 lead.
The hosts created more breathing room in the fifth after Hammill singled to left. Fox followed with a two-run blast over the left field fence to up the advantage to 16-11.
In the Trojan sixth, Jake Jones singled with one away and Newcomb bounced a shot between the legs of shortstop Kyle Lung to place runners at second and third. Jones scored New Kent’s final run, tagging at third on Allen’s fly ball to right.
Newcomb retired the first two batters in the Lion seventh before walking Chris Aldridge and giving up a double to Lung. A wild pitch scored Aldridge and Alvarez singled to drive in Lung, but Newcomb struck out Lyons swinging to end the game.