WILMINGTON- Day three of the Ashley Spring Break Baseball Tournament wrapped up Wednesday with three games that featured five area teams. The Eagles took third place with a come-from-behind victory as Clayton McGee provided a much-needed spark for Coach Brian Stewart’s club in a 5-4 win over Pinecrest.
Timely hitting and strong defense were the keys to victory in the afternoon game between Laney and New Hanover. Ryan Perkins drove in the winning run with an RBI triple in the Bucs final at-bat for the 3-2 victory. Ty Shanahan battled out of trouble in the bottom of the frame after putting two men on to start the inning to record his fifth save of the year.
Ashley vs. Pinecrest
Trailing 4-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles played small ball to move McGee into scoring position. The senior was the igniter for Ashley all game as he reached base three different times to start an inning, all three of which turned into runs.
After McGee advanced to third on a wild pitch, Eric Eason and Shane Shepard were intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Dakota Perryman then hit a hard two hopper up the middle, which was misplayed by Pinecrest, allowing McGee and Eason to score for the win.
“There were some smiles in the dugout today. Our guys competed, played hard and that’s what we talked about. I was happy for the guys who got in there today. They took advantage of the opportunity,” Stewart said.
Pinecrest went up 3-0 early with two runs in the first and one more in the third. Ashley responded in the bottom of the third as McGee led off with a double down the right-field line. With one out, Eason hit a looping line drive that dunked into left field, scoring McGee from second.
In only his second appearance of the year, Peter Bourne came on in relief and sat down three of the next five hitters to keep Ashley in the ballgame. Bourne escaped potential trouble in the fourth when he picked off Jackson Maples after Maples knocked in Joe Cirigliano, who started the inning with a walk.
Tristan Helms was called in from the bullpen to replace Joe Lewis after three innings and Helms was on point. He sat down Ashley one, two, three in the fourth, but the Eagles scratched two runs across in the bottom of the fifth inning after McGee led off with an infield hit. Cameron Johnson then hit a double as McGee scored on a throwing error and in the next at-bat, Eason hit a long drive off the left-field wall to drive in Johnson to pull within one.
Eason then came on to close the game for Ashley and the southpaw did just that. The UNC-Charlotte bound senior allowed just one hit in two innings pitched, setting the stage for a theatrical finish to the third-place game.
McGee finished the day 3-for-3 with a double and three runs scored, while Eason picked up the win.
“I told the guys after yesterday that we had to play on. It’s a different day and a different game. We did a good job in the infield, had some timely hitting and that’s part of it. Hopefully we’ll take some momentum into next week.
“Each day we have to come out and compete. We can’t settle. We have to understand that it’s all about competition, pushing each other to make ourselves better. We still need to put together a full ball game. We have the ability to be a good ball club. Hopefully I can coach them up and we can learn from what we did in the tournament,” Stewart said.
Ashley improved to 9-2 on the season, with two non-conference games early next week before returning to league play at Laney on Friday, April 5.
Laney vs. New Hanover
The afternoon matchup between familiar foes lived up to its hype in Wednesday’s fifth-place contest as Pete Wildboer scored the game winning run off a two-out extra base hit by Perkins.
“Perkins had a huge hit. What a great opportunity for him after struggling earlier in the week to take advantage of that,” Laney Coach Aaron Livengood said.
The Bucs took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Noah Little and Sander Holt came around to score off a Ty Balcombe RBI groundout and a Wildeboer single to right. New Hanover answered in the third after Steven Tinsley and Collin Thacker were issued free passes. Tinsley would tag from third on a sacrifice fly to center by Max Johnson and Pat Pasquariello hit a two-out double to right-center to score Thacker.
Each team would be held scoreless over the next three innings as Ward Coleman found his groove on the mound for the Wildcats. After allowing two runs in the second, Coleman was able to get two double plays in the third and fourth and retired the side in order in the fifth. Andrew Jackson and Justin Whitley threw 3 1/3 solid innings of relief for Laney as no New Hanover base runner moved past second for the rest of the game.
“We struggled today a bit with our location, but when we were around the zone, we were effective,” said Livengood.
With Laney up 3-2 heading into the bottom of the final inning, Livengood called on his closer. Shanahan let up a leadoff walk and after a miscue on a bunt play, New Hanover was in business with two men and nobody out. The Wildcats had come back on their minds after a seventh inning rally Tuesday to beat Topsail, but Shanahan shut the door.
The fireballer made a diving stab just off the third-base line after New Hanover popped up a bunt to record the first out. He then struck out the final two hitters for the save.
Laney finished the tournament with two wins–their only loss coming on the opening night to Pinecrest. The Bucs entertain James River (Va.) on Tuesday, April 2, before returning to conference play at home against Ashley on Friday, April 5.
“We survived today. We started off the game just like we have all season–jumped out to an early lead and then kind of let them [New Hanover] back into it. I think it’s great for our confidence to pull out two wins over teams in our conference. I told the guys after the loss to Pinecrest to treat the tournament like a three-game series, and let’s win two out of three,” Livengood said.
New Hanover plays James River (Va.) at 1 p.m. on Monday, April 1, then travels to Hoggard for a Mideastern Conference game Friday, April 5.
Ashley 5 Pinecrest 4
Box score R H E
Pinecrest 201 100 0 4 5 2
Ashley 001 020 2 5 9 1
WP: Eric Eason LP: Tristan Helms
LOB_ Ashley 4, Pinecrest 5; 2B_ Clayton McGee (1), Eric Eason (1); RBI_ Eason (2), Tristan Helms (1), Jackson Maples (1), Dylan Wallace (1)
Ashley IP H R ER BB SO
Matt Davis 3 3 3 3 1 0
Peter Bourne 2 1 1 1 1 0
Eric Eason (WP) 2 1 0 0 0 1
Pinecrest
Joe Lewis 3 4 1 1 1 2
Tristan Helms (LP) 3 1/3 5 4 2 2 3
Laney 3 New Hanover 2
Box score R H E
Laney 020 000 1 3 7 2
New Hanover 002 000 0 2 2 0
WP: Justin Whitley LP: Tyree Johnson Save: Ty Shanahan
LOB_ Laney 7, NHHS 10; 2B_ Pat Pasquariello; 3B_ Ryan Perkins (1); RBI_ Ryan Perkins (1), Ty Balcombe (1), Pete Wildeboer (1), Max Johnson (1), Pat Pasquariello (1); SB_ Pete Wildeboer (2), Nick Hufham (1), Collin Thacker (1),
Laney IP H R ER BB SO
Jake Cicero 2 2/3 2 2 2 4 2
Andrew Jackson 1 1/3 0 0 0 2 0
Justin Whitley (WP) 2 1 0 0 1 1
Ty Shanahan (Sv) 1 1 0 0 1 1
New Hanover
Ward Coleman 6 6 2 2 1 3
Tyree Johnson (LP) 1 1 1 1 1 1
Hoggard 7 Topsail 5
Bryan Sammons threw a complete game and went 1-for-2 at the plate as Hoggard rallied to beat Topsail 7-5 to open the final day of the Spring Break Baseball Tournament at Ashley High School.
The Pirates jumped out in front in the bottom of the second with two runs on base hits by Clark Cota and Danny Wilson. Jack Faircloth put Hoggard on the board in the top of the third after leading off the inning with a single. He then stole second, advanced to third on a past ball and scored the Vikes first run on a ball that got by the catcher.
Addison Futrell made it a 3-1 ballgame in the bottom of the frame when he hit a RBI single to right to drive in Jake Sullivan.
Hoggard rallied for six runs over the next three innings to take the lead as Joe O’Donnell scored in the fourth after leading off with a walk. He crossed the plate on a sac-fly by Connor Autry as Sammons settled down and retired Topsail in order in the fourth and fifth. The Vikes answered with two more runs in the fifth and three in the sixth.
Topsail made one last attempt at a comeback but Sammons sat down the Pirates two, three, four hitters after two unearned runs scored.
The win gave Hoggard seventh place in the eight team tournament as Topsail dropped three close games in three days. The Vikes are back in action against New Hanover on Friday, April 5, while Topsail heads to Shallotte next week for the Touchstone Energy Baseball Tournament at West Brunswick High School.
Box score R H E
Hoggard 001 123 0 7 9 2
Topsail 021 000 2 5 7 2
WP: Bryan Sammons LP: Palmer Rice
Leading hitters: Hoggard- Jack Faircloth 2-for-5, 2 runs; Miles Abnernathy 2-for-3; Sammons 1-for-2
Topsail- Clark Cota, RBI; Danny Wilson, RBI
