ROME-The Shorter Baseball team (9-9, 1-9 CC) earned their first conference victory Friday afternoon in a thrilling 10-9 win against King (6-13, 4-6 CC).
Shorter landed the first punch in the bottom of the second with Isaiah Sims scoring from third on a fielder's choice with Jonathan Vigoa out at first. The score would stay 1-0 Hawks until the Tornado answered with a grand slam in the fourth, followed by a bases-clearing single to give King the 6-1 advantage.
Wilmer Henriquez stepped up in the fifth and blasted one over the left field wall to drive in two, cutting the deficit to three. In the following inning, Isaiah Sims scored Brooks McKenna on a sacrifice fly, and while the bases were empty, Jonathan Vigoa crushed his second of the year out of the park to cut the lead to a single run. King resisted in the seventh with an RBI single and a bases-clearing double to enter the stretch up five runs again in a 9-4 ballgame.
After stretching things out, Drake Cobb sent a towering shot over the wall in left-center for his seventh of the year. Michael Barron then joined in on the fun with a two-run shot of his own. Entering the eighth, the Hawks were within only a run once more. After a quiet top half, Wilmer Henriquez opened the bottom of the eighth with home run number two of the day to knot it up at nine all. Isaiah Sims once again delivered with a sacrifice fly that allowed Drake Cobb to tag up and score from third to give the Hawks their first lead since the bottom of the second. The Tornado would go down swinging to end the top of the ninth, giving Shorter a well-fought victory, and their first in conference play. Colby Schactner proved to be the difference maker for the Hawks, earning his first win after coming in the fifth for the Hawks, going five innings, allowing just three earned runs, and striking out three batters. Schactner's performance on the mound slowed down the Tornado, helping the Hawks hold on for the victory.
"It's a blessing," said Head Coach Wes Timmons, "we still didn't throw well enough, though. You can't give up that many runs and expect to be on top. But for the first time in three weeks, our hitters came and answered the call. Colby Schachtner was tremendous…if he doesn't come out and do what he did, we don't win this game. There's still things we need to work on; we have to get better, but a win is a win. So you hope you ride that momentum train into tomorrow."
UP NEXT
Shorter aims to keep the ball rolling as they face King for two more matchups at 12:00 p.m. EST and 3:00 p.m. EST. Grady Parsons will get the start for the first seven on Saturday, and Jay O'Neal will take the mound for the final nine at 3:00.
