Hawks top Clayton, 4-3, in eight innings on Davis’ RBI

by John Lucas | Mar 3, 2023 | Triton

Braxton Davis drives in the winning run for the Hawks.
(Dunn Area Sports Photio/John Lucas)

Triton’s varsity baseball team rallied past visiting Clayton in extra innings, taking a 4-3 win when junior Braxton Davis drove in senior Jackson Lanier with a walk off single in the bottom of the eighth inning.

“We kept the pressure on them the entire game,” said Triton coach David Reece. “We started off a little slow, but they never gave up. We kept battling back. We had some big hits when we needed them. We had some huge defensive plays when we needed it. And we had some great pitching when we needed it. My hat’s off to Clayton. That’s a heck of a ball team. Coach Brandon Lusk does a great job with his program year-in and year-out. All-in-all it was just a great team win.”

Junior Tucker Brown was the winning pitcher for the Hawks (2-0), giving up no runs on one hit and two walks, with four strikeouts, in four-and-two-thirds innings of relief. Senior starter Xander Johnson pitched three-and-two-thirds innings, yielding three earned runs on three hits and three walks, with six strikeouts.

“Xander was bit by the injury bug a bit last year and didn’t get to throw as much as he wanted to,” Reece said. “But we saw early on that he could really help us out on the mound and he showed that tonight. And then Tucker Brown, he came in and pitched one heck of a ball game. He was just outstanding.”

Senior left-hander Derrick Collins was the pitcher of record for the Comets (1-1). He allowed one earned run on two hits and four walks, with four strikeouts, in two-and-one-third innings of relief. Freshman starter Jennings Dunlap went five-and-one-third innings, yielding one earned run on eight hits, no walks and two hit batters, with four strikeouts.

Brown had two hits and two RBIs and Lanier had two hits and two runs scored to lead Triton offensively.

Davis had two hits, including a double, and one RBI. Jalen Evans had two hits, including a double. Johnston had two hits, including a triple, and one run scored. Kenny McKoy scored once as a courtesy runner for catcher Anthony Jones.

Sophomore Owen Fitzsimmons and senior Daniel Morgan each had one hit and one RBI to lead Clayton.

Cameron Royal had a double. Riley Jones had one hit. Dominic Pegues had one RBI. Cam Bryant, Redick Kent and Cole Rairigh scored one run apiece.

Clayton got on the scoreboard first in the top of the second inning. Bryant and Kent each drew a walk and advanced on a wild pitch. Bryant scored on a ground ball from Pegues and Kent scored on a base hit from Fitzsimmons.

Anthony Jones reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the second. McKoy, his courtesy runner, advanced on a Johnson sacrifice and scored on a base hit from Brown.

Fitzsimmons drew a two-out walk in the top of the fourth. Rairigh, his courtesy runner, advanced on a passed ball and scored on a base hit from Morgan.

Lanier reached on a base hit in the bottom of the fifth, advanced on an Evans single and scored on an error to cut the lead back to one. Johnson tripled in the bottom of the sixth and scored on a base hit from Brown to tie the score.

Lanier singled with two out in the bottom of the eighth, advanced when Evans drew a walk and on a wild pitch and scored on a walk off base hit from Davis.

“Jackson had some huge hits,” Reece said. “Jackson has a nice, compact swing. He know what he’s supposed to do and he does it. He’s just one of those go-getters. It’s always good to have guys that buy in to what we’re trying to do. Especially when we can do it one-through-nine.”

Reece was pleased with the Hawks’ 2-0 start against tough competition, but knows there is more work to do going forward.

“Very good start,” Reece said. “We’re doing the right things right now to win, but obviously, we still have some things we need to work on. And a game like tonight will give you a couple of extra gray hairs. Clayton, they beat the No. 1 4-A team in the state, Wake Forest, at the beginning of the week. And we beat a very good Cleveland team.”

Triton is at home against Union Pines (1-1) on Monday.