Boys’ Baseball: New Kent 10, Poquoson 0

New Kent pitcher Matt Metheny gets into his delivery and fires to the plate on the way to shutting out Poquoson on one hit.

Alan Chamberlain photos

Question: Name the last time a New Kent team blanked perennial Bay Rivers baseball powerhouse Poquoson 10-0 under the district’s five-inning slaughter rule? Answer: Never.

Until Tuesday, that is. Behind the one-hit pitching of Matt Metheny, the host Trojans produced timely hits and took advantage of Islander errors and walks to earn the 10-0 victory. The outcome upped New Kent’s record to 4-3.

“In the 10 years I’ve been here, we’ve never put up a 10-run shutout on Poquoson,” said Trojan coach Ronnie Cox afterward. “They have a stellar program, but I knew we were capable. We stole a lot of bases, got clutch two-out hits, and Matt pitching a one-hit shutout against them was just awesome.”

New Kent took a 1-0 lead in the second as Jake Countiss reached on an error and scored. Then the hosts broke open the game with a five-run third behind Trey Cox’s RBI double, a Countiss single, three walks, and a pair of Islander errors.

New Kent put the game away in the fourth. Mason Downer’s double down the right field line scored Dakota Oxendine (walk). Two-out singles from Nick Valentino, Steven Carpenter, and Kevin Karaffa drove in the final three runs.

Metheny, meanwhile, faced just 17 batters and threw only 45 pitches while striking out four.

“We’ve still got things to work on, but it’s been a great start to the season,” said Cox. “We’ve been in all the games we’ve lost so I’m cautiously optimistic about the rest of the season.”