Braxton Davis connects to give the Hawks the lead in the seventh.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Triton scored five runs in the seventh inning, taking the lead on a two-run double from sophomore Braxton Davis, to rally for a 7-5 varsity baseball win at rival Midway on Friday night.
“Those last two innings were what we were waiting on all game,” said Triton coach Jacob Willis. “They really showed through. They had a hard first-through-five, but they continued to fight and those last two innings started piecing it together and they kept fighting and came together as a team. I was very proud.”
Midway coach Justin Carroll said the Raiders (0-2) could not follow up after a five-run first inning.
“We had a big one in the first inning and then just kind of stopped playing for the most part,” Carroll said. “We had many, many chances to score runs. We’ve got to get a lot tougher than what we are right now or we’re going to see similar results.”
Junior Wyatt Avery was the winning pitcher for the Hawks (2-0). In one and two-thirds relief innings, he gave up no runs on no hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Davis also had a strong outing, yielding no earned runs on two hits and three walks, with eight strikeouts across four-and-two-thirds relief innings.
“Wyatt came in and shut the door,” Willis said. “And Braxton Davis threw pretty well. He came in and kept us in the ball game. And then Wyatt did a great job coming in and throwing strikes and shutting the door to give us a chance there at the end.”
Junior Anthony Jones had three hits, including a double, and two RBIs and junior Ross Stevens had three hits, including a double, one RBI and two runs scored to lead Triton at the plate.
Davis had a double and three RBIs. Xander Johnson had a double and one RBI. Riley Colville had a double and one run scored. Jalen Evans, Tucker Brown and Jackson Lanier each had one hit and one run scored. Kenneth McKoy scored once as a courtesy runner for Jones.
Midway started strong, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Triton came into the top of the seventh trailing 5-2 and a hit from Lanier, in his lone plate appearance of the game, sparked a five-run rally, with a base hit from Jones bringing home the tying run and a double from Davis scoring two runs to put Triton in front.
“Something definitely clicked,” Willis said. “Jackson Lanier came in off the bench with a great base hit to kind of start everything back up. And then it just kept going from there.”
Midway had runners on the corners with two out in the bottom of the seventh when Avery ended the game with a strikeout.
Triton begins All American 3-A/4-A Conference play at Harnett County rival Overhills (0-2) on Monday at 6 p.m. and Midway has a nonconference game at East Duplin (1-0) on Tuesday.
Casey Culbreth of host Midway gets an RBI double on Friday night.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Hunter Tyndall singles to drive in a run for the Raiders.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Jackson Lanier comes home with the first of five runs for Triton in the seventh.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Wyatt Avery got the win on the mound for the Hawks at Midway.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
