Rain continues to hound baseball teams around the region and Winston Academy hasn’t been exempt.
The Patriots have been itching to get themselves into a routine on the field whether it be at practice or in a game setting but mother nature has had the last say on the matter. Even so, when the Patriots have gotten their opportunities, they’ve made the most of it.
In week one of the season, WA played a gauntlet of a schedule with four games in four days and they came out with a perfect score with wins in all of those games. They were scheduled to play at home against Central Holmes last week but the visitors cancelled on them leaving them with just one game on the week when they played East Rankin in the first true road game of the season.
They continued their hot start to the season as they pitched well and got key hits late for a big early-year victory on the road, 6-3. Head coach Charlie Smith had been pleased with the way his team pulled out wins in the first four games, but to find a way to win this game after a strong start from the ERA pitcher is what thrilled him.
“We saw a pretty good pitcher on Friday night and it took us a little while to get to him,” Smith said. “We just kept battling. We didn’t have a lot to show for it the first time through and then when we got his pitch count up we hit him pretty good.”
It was a pitcher’s duel for the better part of the entire game. ERA and WA both had strong pitching performances for most of the ball game. Freshmen Spencer Wilson, Brylee Wall and Aiden Fancher all threw 2.0 innings each and struck out four batters with just three hits surrendered and one earned run.
It was Fancher’s debut this season after injuring his hand in an offseason game and Smith has been high on what he can do both at the plate and on the mound. He helped the team pull through on that night.
“We pitched the best we have pitched all year and we overcame a mistake defensively,” Smith said. “Not being able to play much with the weather being what it is now has hurt our continuity.”
WA (5-0) had seven hits in the game but it wasn’t until late that they began to come on as they scored six runs in the seventh. Josh Mcginnis had two hits in the game and Jody McCorkle had a hit and game-high two RBI.
With spring break here, Smith was hoping that his team would get lots of play in this week but it hasn’t been the case to date. The Patriots were scheduled to play East Webster and Nanih Waiya at East Central Community College before that game was moved to Cumberland on Monday and ultimately cancelled.
Smith was searching for opponents to fill the void midweek for Tuesday and Wednesday games but had no luck as of Monday afternoon. If the weather cooperates, they could still get two games in this weekend at Winona in the Spring Break Tournament. They’re scheduled to play Water Valley at 1 p.m. and Winona at 3:30 p.m. in a double-header.
“We’re supposed to go to Winona this weekend for a tournament but other than that I don’t know if we’ll get any other games in this week,” Smith said. “It’s hard to find somebody right now with the weather what it has been and with it being spring break.”
Getting these games in are critical in the coach’s mind because a District 2-AAA double-header with Canton is on the docket next Tuesday.
