Grace Christian Wins VACA Baseball Quarterfinal Game

STUARTS DRAFT – Grace Christian School used a dominant start on the mound by Davis Reid and some timely hitting to defeat Roanoke Valley Christian 9-4 Monday in the VACA tournament quarterfinals played at The Diamond Club.

Reid pitched four shutout innings and allowed just two hits. He struck out eight and hit one batter.

“Davis is dialed in,” said Grace head coach Mike Mallory. “I know when I put him on the mound, he’s going to throw strikes and he’s going to compete.”

The Warriors wasted little time taking the lead, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Ethan Wright led off the inning with a single to left and then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Wright scored on Reid’s grounder to short and Reid was safe on the play when the ball was mishandled. An infield single by Elijah McCaskill and a walk to Landon Wright loaded the bases before Eagles’ starter Cayden Wayne fanned the next two batters. Abe Hochstetler stepped up to the plate and cleared the bases with a double down the left-field line, giving the Warriors a 4-0 lead.

“Abe is one of our seniors and he’s been struggling some at the plate. I moved him down in the order to take some of the pressure off him and he came through with a big hit,” said Mallory. “After the game, we gave Abe the game ball. He came through and broke the game open early with a big hit.”

Grace added two more runs in the second inning. Ashton Black walked and Reid singled to put two runners on with one out. McCaskill then doubled over the leftfielder’s head, scoring both runners for a 6-0 Warriors advantage. 

The Warriors pushed the margin to 9-0 before the visitors avoided the shutout with four runs in the top of the seventh. The Eagles did not have a hit in the inning, but took advantage of a hit batter, three walks and a Grace error to score four runs.  

Ethan Wright pitched the final three innings for Grace and allowed four runs, two earned, on two hits.

The Warriors advance to the VACA semifinals to be played Friday at the Diamond Club.