Early HR sinks Red Pride

FISHERSVILLE – An early home run helped Wilson Memorial to an 8-2 win over Riverheads on Friday.

The first pitch Riverheads’ Cody Montgomery threw resulted in a huge homer over the left-center field fence from the Hornets’ leadoff batter Weston Cash.

“You don’t see many of those,” said Wilson Memorial coach Derek McDaniel. “Their [Riverheads] pitcher throws a lot of fast balls so I told the guys to hit the first pitch if they liked it. That set the tone of the game.”

For the first two innings, the Gladiators couldn’t even get a man on base.

The Hornets came out in the second inning and scored another run off of a Tyler Knight hard grounder between first and second. But neither team would score again until the last two innings of the game.

“We had some opportunities early on, but we didn’t capitalize on them,” McDaniel said. “Eventually you’ll run out of those opportunities.”

Wilson kept its 2-0 lead until the bottom of the sixth when the Gladiators sent Miles Wade to the mound and Gage Staton dug in to start off the Hornets.

A line drive, falling behind third base, put Staton at first and back-to-back bunts from Aaron Coffey and Knight loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly from Cash drove in Staton and a blooper to right field from Ryan Fitzgerald, followed by a throwing error from the Gladiators, ran in Coffey and put Fitzgerald at second. DJ Curry followed up with the same hit and two more throwing errors from Riverheads put Curry on third and saw Knight and Fitzgerald score. That’s when Alex Sauer stepped up to the plate.

With a man on and only one out, Sauer cranked one over the left-field fence, driving in Curry along with himself.

“That whole inning started with a line drive and a couple of bunts,” McDaniel said. “We just kept putting the ball in play.”

The Gladiators managed to get out of the inning with a strike out and an easy infield play.

“We made a few mental mistakes out there that really hurt us,” Riverheads coach Rodney Painter said. “We did have some early opportunities that we couldn’t capitalize on.”

The Gladiators wouldn’t be put down that easily though. Wilson’s pitcher Curry walked Riverheads’ Adam Ritter to start off the seventh inning, putting Taylor Yeago at the plate. With the count at 3-1, Curry threw Yeago a perfect pitch, and Yeago sent it via air mail over the center-field fence, his first homer of the season, putting the score at 8-2.

“DJ threw a great game,” McDaniel said. “He lost focus there in the seventh though.”

A strike out, a fly out, and an easy grounder ended the game.

Wilson (7-9, 4-2) travels to Luray on Monday while Riverheads (10-4, 4-3) face Stonewall Jackson on Tuesday.