Timely New Kent hitting backs freshman pitcher in 11-5 conquest of Bruton

New Kent second baseman Hunter Pitts fires to first to complete a seventh inning double play after forcing out a Bruton baserunner at second.

Alan Chamberlain photo

A pair of first inning runs and six more in the fourth staked New Kent’s host Trojans to a seemingly comfortable 8-0 lead over Bruton’s Panthers. The Panthers made matters interesting down the stretch with five unanswered runs including a three-run homer, but the Trojans regained composure to pull away for an 11-5 baseball victory, evening the hosts’ record at 2-2.

“Playing back-to-back games can be a bit of a positive thing,” Trojan coach Michael Kuper said after Tuesday’s win, referring to the previous day’s encounter with Colonial Heights.

“It helped a lot jumping out to a 2-0 lead,” he said. “Then our hitting got us off to a big lead in the fourth and we were able to take advantage of their errors.”

Jacob Rivera launched New Kent’s initial surge with a single to open the Trojan first. After Jacob Stout walked, sacrifices by Shawn Cousins and Mason Tate created the 2-0 advantage. In the fourth, singles from Bryan Brooks, Jared Mitchell, Riggs Ellis, Rivera and Cousins, along with three Panther errors, upped the count to 8-0.

Bruton scored twice after loading the bases in the fifth. Then in the next frame, a three-run homer closed the gap to 8-5.

“After that three-run homer, we managed to get refocused and get out of it,” Kuper said.

With runners at the corners in the bottom of the sixth, Cousins bounced a single between shortstop and third to make it 9-5. Then with the bases loaded, Brooks looped a RBI single to shallow right. A bases-loaded walk accounted for New Kent’s final run.

Playing four games in five days (the Trojan travel to Warhill Thursday before returning home to entertain Grafton on Friday), forced Kuper to reshuffle his pitching staff, bringing up freshman Nate Kagey from JV to start against Bruton.

“He did a great job filling the zone up with strikes,” the coach said. “For his first start ever on the varsity level, I’m real happy about that.”

Kagey pitched four innings of shutout ball before running into trouble in the fifth when the Panthers scored twice. Brooks finished on the mound in relief.