Greenbrier beats Evans, Lakeside

Greenbrier took care of both of its county region rivals last week, showing little trouble with wins over both Evans and Lakeside.

The most recent win, a home subregion victory over Lakeside on Saturday, kept the Wolfpack perfect with a 19-0 record.

The final score over the Panthers, a 16-2 blowout, was the Wolfpack's most lop-sided win since a 20-5 stomping over Baldwin on April 1.

"I expected us to win, but maybe not by this much," Greenbrier senior Chris Johnson said.

In his first trip to the plate Saturday, Johnson hit his eighth home run of the season. The two-run shot started a Greenbrier scoring spree that saw the Wolfpack score three more runs in the second inning, five in the third and six runs in the fourth inning to force the mercy rule for the 13th time this year.

The final blow came on home runs from senior Rich Poythress and Cal Morris in the fourth inning. With 16 runs of support, the job on the mound was easy for Greenbrier's Nolan Belcher and Rafael Parks.

Belcher started the game for the Wolfpack and allowed two runs on two hits and struck out six Lakeside batters. The sophomore threw 72 pitches in four innings of work before handing the ball over to senior Rafael Parks to finish the job.

Parks struck out two of the four batters he faced to seal the win.

"I'm real pleased with Rafael, and the way he's throwing. He's getting better and better," Greenbrier coach Ed Williams said of the right-fielder and occasional reliever.

Evans needed no reliever to down the Panthers on Friday. Knights starter Kyle Golden threw a complete game four-hitter to lead the Knights to a 12-2 win over Lakeside.

"I was a little nervous. This was my first start in a region game." Golden said. "I just wanted to keep the ball low and get a win."

Golden did just that with his only slip-up coming on an 0-1 pitch to Lakeside's Jay Krenz. The senior sent the pitch over the center field wall to score the Panthers' only two runs of the game.

Most of Evans' offense came in the third inning when the Knights batted around to score seven runs due to three Lakeside errors. The Panthers committed seven errors in the game.

Harlem played just one game this weekend, losing 12-3 Friday to Cross Creek.

Augusta Prep fell to 6-10 on the season with an 8-4 loss at Westminster on Thursday. Augusta Christian also added one to the loss column by falling 3-2 at Calhoun Academy on Thursday.