Riverheads No-Hits Bison; Wilson Blanks Cougars

GREENVILLE – Riverheads’ offense came alive Thursday while Gladiators’ pitchers Asher Falls and Carson Kuhn combined for a five-inning no-hitter in a 10-0 district win.

“We needed a win like that. We had a good approach at the plate, and we did a good job of stringing together some hits,” said Riverheads head coach Rodney Painter. “We have been struggling with our offense lately, so it was good to see us have some good at-bats and hit the baseball today.”

Riverheads scored in the first as Chase Donathan used his legs to manufacture a run. Donathan beat out an infield single, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. After Kuhn walked, Donathan scored on the back end of a double steal for a 1-0 Gladiators lead.

Riverheads loaded the bases in the second on a pair of walks and a base hit by Landon Gibson. David Austin then lined a single down the left-field line, scoring two runs for a 3-0 lead. Donathan singled to right to score a run and Henley Dunlap plated a run with a groundout, making the score 5-0.

The Gladiators used the long ball to end the game in the fifth. Donathan led off the inning with a homer, making the score 6-0. Henley Dunlap doubled and scored on a hit by Levi Dunlap to make it 7-0. After Tristin Musselman singled, Kendal Edwards ended the game with a 3-run homer for the final 10-0 margin.

Falls pitched the first three innings and struck out four.He hit one batter. Kuhn fanned three in his two innings on the mound and walked two.

“They got the outs when we needed them” Painter said of his pitching duo. “Gap had a couple runners on base in two innings, but they made the pitches to keep them off the board.

Seven Riverheads’ batters had base hits with Donathan lead the offense with a 3-for-3 day at the plate. 

Wilson 7, Stuarts Draft 0
FISHERSVILLE – Wilson Memorial broke open a classic pitcher’s duel in a big way Thursday, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat the Stuarts Draft Cougars, 7-0, in Shenandoah District baseball action.

Wilson’s Ryan McDaniel and Draft’s Spencer Gates traded zeroes through the first five innings.

Gates took a perfect game into the bottom of the fifth inning before giving up hits to Eli Irving and McDaniel. With two outs, Draft shortstop Davis Waite preserved the shutout with a diving snag of Nolan Deaver’s hard line to end the inning.

After McDaniel retired Gap in the top of the sixth, Wilson’s bats came alive in the bottom half of the inning.

It all started with Logan Podgorski’s dribbler between the mound and third base for an infield hit. Jayden Saunders then walked to put two runners on base. Addy Flesher was unable to get a bunt down, but a wild pitch moved both runners up a base. With two strikes, Flesher’s hard grounder went for a base hit, scoring two runs to give the Hornets the lead. Wyatt Wood followed with a deep homer to left, making the score 4-0. Wilson continued to hit against the Draft bullpen with Christian Brewer connecting for a single, followed by Irving’s RBI-double to make it 5-0. Parker Baucom reached on a base hit and Deaver plated two runs with a hard single, pushing the lead to 7-0.

McDaniel pitched six shutout innings to get the win. He allowed three hits and struck out 11. Brewer pitched the final inning for Wilson and added three more punchouts.

Wilson finished with nine hits, all in its final two at-bats. Irving had two hits for the Hornets while Flesher and Deaver each drove in two runs. 

Gates gave up four runs on five hits in five innings. He struck out three batters.

Leadoff hitter Christian Hoke had two of Draft’s three hits.