Three Rivers baseball run rules North Central twice in Region XVI opener

Three Rivers baseball run rules North Central twice in Region XVI opener

The game was postponed due to vomit.

Not for long mind you, just a few minutes. But Three Rivers' Region XVI opener against North Central on Friday was slightly delayed because the Raiders' starting left fielder was Beau Burson was in the bathroom throwing up.

"I'm still throwing up," Burson said after the game, adding he didn't know why. "I woke up at 3 a.m. and started throwing up. It hasn't let up much."

It didn't slow him down, he still went 2 for 4 with two runs, a stolen base and a walk in the doubleheader as Three Rivers swept North Central 13-0 in five innings in the opener and 11-3 in seven innings in the nightcap.

"He's a pretty tough kid. I think he'll answer the bell until he can't. I think he is just a competitor and a guy you'd like to have out there on the field," Three Rivers coach Stacy Burkey said. "He felt like he could do it, so I threw him out there."

Added Burson, "We train really hard here. We are prepared for our bodies to be down and fatigued. My body was real tired today and I was trained and prepared for that. I knew I could focus on the task at hand and take care of the task at hand."

With both games ending two innings shorter than expected, the Raiders (8-3, 2-0 Region XVI) only used three pitchers on the day, saving most of bullpen for the second half of the four-game series, which starts Saturday at noon.

"We've got four or five guys available and two really fresh arms in AJ Calhoun and Chase Hutson," Burkey said.

Austin Williams threw all five innings in the opener for a complete-game shutout. He struck out seven, with two walks and five hits against. Williams never faced more than four batters in any one inning.

In the nightcap, River Hunt settled in after a shaky first inning for the win.

Hunt gave up a leadoff double to start the game, and then committed an error, followed by a single. Down a run, facing the clean-up hitter with nobody out, Hunt earned a five-pitch strikeout and then escaped when the Raiders turned a 4-6-3 double play.

He faced two over the minimum over the following four innings and struck out the side in the fourth inning.

Hunt gave up a second run in the sixth after allowing back-to-back doubles to start the inning, but then scooped up a grounder and got to fly outs to finish his day with eight strikeouts, six hits and one walk.

Hutson retired the side in the seventh with two strikeouts.

Offensively, the Raiders scored 10 runs in the fourth inning in the opener to take a commanding lead. Ty'Reik Thomas scored twice after starting the inning with a double and hitting a grand slam in his second trip to the plate. He was two batters away from getting a third at-bat in one inning.

Tony Mejia was 2 for 3 with two runs and two RBIs in the game and Zane Wallace was 1 for 1 with two runs and an RBI. Wallace drew two walks and was hit by a pitch to reach base in all four at-bats.

In the nightcap, Zac Salyers scored the walk-off run in wild series that started with a sacrifice fly.

Salyers, pinch-running for catcher Nick Fakouri, was on second and took off for third on a fly out to right field. The throw to third went through the third baseman's legs to the fence, Salyers rounded third, went for home and beat his slide just barely beat the throw.

"We've kind of got on a roll here a little bit and no better time to do it than starting off the region, for sure," Burkey said.

John Rodriguez scored three times for the Raiders and was 3 for 4 with a double and a two-run home run in the sixth inning.

Braden Cox is expected to start the noon opener Saturday and Nash Winters is expected to start the nightcap.

 

Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic