After experiencing a bit of a slump with back-to-back losses and three out of four losses overall, Winston Academy got back on track last week.
The Patriots went on the road to play Calhoun Academy and played a double-header with Hatley and ended up sweeping the competition.
To start on Thursday, WA had to stave off a furious rally from the Cougars in the seventh inning but pulled out an 11-10 victory. The Patriots were tied at 3 after three innings before scoring six runs in the fourth and building a lead at 9-3.
Calhoun was down 11-5 headed into the final inning when it scored five runs against the Patriots. WA was able to close it out finally but not without some heartburn in the one-run game. The Patriots out-hit Calhoun 11-7 and only had one error to the Cougars four.
Brylee Wall had a huge game going 3-for-3 with five RBI including a home run. Trey Williamson also hit a home run in the game and had two hits with an RBI. Dalton Powell went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and Braxton Rone sent one out for a home run in the game.
The Patriots had to use four pitchers and all of them gave up at least a run and a walk. The Pats walked nine batters to five strikeouts.
WA pitched it much better against Hatley the next day. In game one of the series, the team combined to give up just one hit in an 8-1 victory. WA scored four runs in the first inning to get out to a lead.
Hayes Gregory led the way with a three-hit day with a homer and drove in four RBI while Jett Joiner had two RBI on a hit. Wall was strong on the mound going 6.2 innings, giving up just one hit and one unearned run and he struck out 11 batters. He did walk six.
The strong pitching continued in game two when WA gave up just two hits this time and won 12-2 in a four-inning ball game. The Patriots tore the cover off the ball in those four innings racking up 14 hits with four runs in the second, two in the third and five in the fourth.
Rone and Wall had a 3-for-3 ball game each as Rone had two doubles and Wall one. Bryson Wright went 2-for-3 with a double and four RBI and Williamson had two hits.
The Patriots (8-4) will spend Spring Break playing baseball as WA goes to East Central Community College to play East Webster on Wednesday at Noon and will play Magee on Thursday at Noon. On Friday the Patriots will play Tri-County Academy, also at Noon.
