Wolfpack chews up Panthers

Greenbrier's baseball team entered the weekend needing one more subregion win to clinch the Region 3B-AAAA top seed. The final step to the No. 1 spot came easier than expected.

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The Wolfpack knocked off visiting Lakeside on Friday in a six-inning 10-0 win. None of Greenbrier's first four runs came on batted balls. Instead, the Wolfpack's most productive at-bats came on strikeouts.

With one out and the bases loaded in the first inning, Panthers pitcher J.C. Huffman struck out the next two Greenbrier batters, but not before a pair of wild pitches and passed balls scored two runs. The same thing happened an inning later, when another Greenbrier run scored on a wild pitch and a fourth run came in on a throwing error on a pick-off attempt by Lakeside catcher Jake Wood.

Greenbrier's base runners took full advantage of the visiting team's mistakes.

"We're not picky when it comes to runs. We'll take them however we can get them," Greenbrier baseball coach Rodney Holder said.

The Wolfpack eventually ended the game with a 10-0 win stopped short by the mercy rule. Loren Collins, Adam King and Taylor Adams all drove in runs in a five-run sixth inning to double Greenbrier's lead over its in-county rival.

"They're coming around and hitting the ball better," Holder said. "That was big, and then Damien Lucree. His defensive job was great fresh off being sick as a dog for about a week."

It was a big victory to clinch the subregion title, but the winning didn't stop then. Greenbrier swept Harlem a day later in a make-up doubleheader to improve to 14-4 on the season.

After a 6-1 Greenbrier win in the first game, senior Brandon Cumpton made up for a rough day at third base in the second game with a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the seventh for a 6-5 win.

Knights no-hitter

Evans senior Kevin Millward threw the first no-hitter of the season by a Columbia County pitcher Friday in a 13-0 win over the Academy of Richmond County. Millward went the distance in the five-inning game as the Knights put themselves in position to climb in the subregion standings. Evans, which led 5-0 after three innings, put eight runs on the board in the fourth inning to improve to 3-3 in subregion play.

What a weekend

Augusta Christian's baseball run total looked more like football scores in a pair of games over the weekend. The Lions edged out Ben Lippen on Friday by a score of 13-12. Augusta Christian trailed 11-0 after 2 innings, but scored 11 runs during the next four innings to tie the game at 11-11 heading into the final inning. Senior Taylor Hensley went three-for-five with a home run in the game to lead a Lions offense that recorded 12 hits.

A day later, the Lions lost to Richard Winn 17-12 in another high-scoring shootout. Senior Josh Whitaker went two-for-two with a home run in the game, but it wasn't enough to keep Augusta Christian from falling to 10-8 overall.