Hawk baseball downs HC, 11-0, on Senior Night as Jones has six RBIs

by John Lucas | Apr 30, 2022 | Triton

Anthony Jones ends the game with a 3-run homer for the Hawks.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Triton’s varsity baseball team capped a series of three games in three days by winning 11-0 in five innings over visiting All American 3-A/4-A Conference and Harnett County rival Harnett Central on Senior Night to end the regular season Friday.

“(Pitcher) Hayden (Pope) went out there and didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled through,” said Triton baseball coach Jake Willis. “He gave everything he’s got for as long as could. Being able to go to Dillon Faircloth right there and him coming in after a long time off battling injuries his entire four years. Good to see him come out, throw a couple of pitches and get an out. And our bats doing the job at the plate. Anthony (Jones) with a big one to open things up. Top of the order was hitting it strong and doing what we had to do.”

Senior Hayden Pope recorded the win on the mound for the Hawks, giving up no runs on four hits and two walks, with five strikeouts, across four and two-thirds innings. Senior Dillon Faircloth pitched one-third of an inning in relief, retiring the lone batter he faced.

Junior Anthony Jones had two hits, a double and a home run, six RBIs and two runs scored to lead Triton at the plate.

Tucker Brown had two hits, including a triple, one RBI and three runs scored. Jalen Evans had two hits, including a double, one RBI and one run scored. Braxton Davis had two hits, one RBI and one run scored. Ross Stevens had two hits and two runs scored. Isaac Bennett had one hit and one RBI. Riley Colville had one hit and one run scored. Wyatt Avery had one hit. Harvey Schneider scored once.

Senior Brandon Barefoot had two hits and sophomore Layton Babb and senior Dalton Ausley had one hit apiece for the Trojans.

Prior to the game, Triton honored four seniors: Harvey Schneider, Riley Colville, Hayden Pope and Dillon Faircloth.

Triton finished the regular season in second place in the conference standings and will take the No. 2 seed into next week’s conference tournament. Harnett Central will have the No. 6 seed.

“We’ll definitely try to carry the momentum from today over,” Willis said. “We had some good pitching performances this week. Pine Forest was a long ball game (Triton won 14-13 on Wednesday) and we used a lot of arms there. Three-game weeks are tough. So, we’ve got to get some rest this weekend and carry that momentum into next week and take it game by game.”