MOUNTAIN PINE — A 13-run second inning propelled Mountain Pine to a 20-2 three-inning win over Kirby Wednesday afternoon.
Mountain Pine starting pitcher Brice Langley set the tone for the Red Devils with three strikeouts in the first inning and another strikeout while forcing two groundouts in the second.
Mountain Pine head coach Joseph Alderman said he was really happy to see Langley’s performance on the mound. The senior pitched with velocity and accuracy around the strike zone.
“He did great before the season started,” Alderman said. “He was on point. Then when we got into play, he had a lot of walks and things like that. He really locked it in today, which is nice. He was on a short leash. We’ve got conference coming up on Friday, so this was to kind of get him back in his groove. He did a heck of a job today. Proud of him.”
Wednesday’s contest was just Kirby’s second game of the season. The Trojans fell 23-0 to Murfreesboro March 9.
“We’re a 1A baseball team, so we don’t play many baseball games,” Kirby head coach Jack Stuard said. “This is only our second game. … (I told my team) just practice well, play well.”
Jonah Wilburn knocked Konner Clemons with a single up the middle to give the Red Devils a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Cale Slaten added to Mountain Pine’s lead when he stole third and then touched home plate after the ball got away from the third baseman.
Andrew Goodin drove into Wilburn with a single to right field, and Judah Garcia doubled to drive into Goodin and Landon Gadberry.
In the next at bat, Langley hit what looked like a routine fly ball to right field, but the Trojans’ right fielder dropped the ball and allowed Garcia to score. Jakob Walpole then hit a single to right field to drive in Langley and gave Mountain Pine a 7-0 advantage at the end of the first inning.
“We changed our approach,” Alderman said. “Got up there instead of watching so much. We decided to get up there and have a two-strike approach the whole time and just swing the bat to see if we could put a bat on it. That’s what we did, so we did a good job.”
In the bottom of the second, six of Mountain Pine’s 13 runs came off bases-loaded walks.
“The best thing I took from it is they had the discipline, but at the same time they didn’t let their hands die or the bats die,” Alderman said. “Whenever they did have that pitch, whenever it was available, they turned on it, and we hit the ball hard in a lot of places.”
The Trojans struggled with errors throughout the game. Goodin started the second inning by reaching first on an error, and he eventually scored after Gadberry singled to center field. An error by the Kirby third baseman later in the inning eventually led to a bases loaded situation.
“We had a lot of errors,” Stuard said. “Errors score runs at the end of the day. Just learn to be better baseball players.”
Clemons came into pitch with a 20-0 lead at the start of the third inning. Shann started the inning with a walk for Kirby, and after a groundout, three consecutive walks sent Shann home to put the Trojans on the scoreboard.
With the bases loaded, Clemons picked off Sawyer Markham at first base before Slaten came in to close out the game for Mountain Pine.
Walpole finished the game 2-for-2 with a run and a walk, and Langley scored three runs to go along with two hits. Goodin went 1-for-3, scored three runs, walked once and reached on an error.
After the convincing win over Kirby, the Red Devils open conference play Friday against Horatio.
“We need our bats going right now,” Alderman said. “Our biggest thing is we make so many errors right now and we’ve been walking people. If Brice brings it in and starts throwing strikes and we can take care of those errors, we’ll be fine and we’ll be very competitive in this conference.”
