Hawks no-hit by Maryville, but rebound to win a pair
HARDIN VALLEY — Hardin Valley Academy’s baseball team was the victim of a no-hitter Friday night, April 28.
The Hawks couldn’t get much going against Maryville pitcher Evan Porter and the result was a 5-0 District 4-AAA loss to the Red Rebels at HVA.
Although Hardin Valley’s official scorer gave a hit to Hawks sophomore Bryce Jenkins, Joe Michalski, HVA head coach, said it was an error and Porter therefore earned a no-hitter.
However, the defending district champion Hawks notched a 1-0 district win versus William Blount at home Saturday, April 27.
Drew Parks, HVA senior pitcher, fired a complete game shutout, allowing just four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts.
Freshman Lukas Cook provided the seventh-inning RBI, scoring courtesy runner Elijah Wood
Traveling to West Monday, May 1, Hardin Valley won a 10-9 shootout in nine innings, improving to 16-13 overall while finishing 9-5 in district.
Parks came up big with his bat, conecting for three hits including a homer with 4 RBI. Cam Fisher also had three hits, driving in two runs. Cook also homered with two hits overall.
Dawson Byard, HVA senior outfielder who was awarded the Kaleb Fenton Memorial Scholarship earlier on Friday, said he felt the Hawks could make a postseason run again in 2017.
“If we play our game, we can succeed,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot this season and we started out kind of slow but I think we’re starting to get things turned around.”
On winning the Kaleb Fenton Scholarship, Byard said. “It’s definitely bitter-sweet because it was tough to lose a great guy and team player like Kaleb.”
Kaleb, a former Hawks player, was killed in a car accident last summer.
Against Maryville, the Hawks found themselves behind early as the Rebels [24-9, 11-3 after the win] tallied three times in the top of the opening frame.
Reuben Church delivered a two-run double off HVA starter Anders Cook, who was relieved by junior Jack Umberger before recording an out. Matt Young added a scoring single later in the inning to give Maryville a 3-0 lead.
Joe Michalski, Hawks head coach, said he was disappointed to see the Hawks fall behind early in the game.
“You have to be focused and you have to be ready to go from the first pitch,” he said. “And we weren’t ready to go.”
Maryville will be seeded No. 2 and host the bottom half of the district tournament bracket.
Farragut, the top seed, will also host preliminary games.
