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Brooks leads SM to victory over Hawks
D.J. Brooks went four of four with a home run leading Smoky Mountain to a 5-3 non-conference baseball victory at North Buncombe on Feb. 28.
Alex Koji (1-0) pitched the first four innings for the win. He walked two and struck out two while yielding three hits.
“D.J. had a great day,” Coach Marvin Schade said. “Alex gave us four really good innings and threw strikes, and Justin Price threw three good innings.”
The Mustangs (1-1) got off to a good start when Brooks led off the first with a home run. Price delivered an RBI double, and Grant Schallock had a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.
Ricky Pressley’s homer cut the gap to 3-1 in the second, but SM got that run back in the third. Schallock singled and later scored on Koji’s base hit making it 4-1.
The Black Hawks drew within 4-3 on single runs in the fourth and fifth. Cody Geyer’s double helped lead to the run in the fourth, and SM committed a couple of errors in the fifth.
Singles by Brooks, Andy Potter and Schallock produced an insurance run in the seventh.
North threatened in the bottom of the seventh by loading the bases on two walks and a hit batsman, but Price escaped the jam to record the save. He fanned six in three no-hit innings.
Schade pointed to Schallock’s seventh inning RBI as a key hit. The coach noted catchers Jordan Moss and Sammy Matthews threw out runners, and Daniel Buchanan turned in a key defensive play.
Schallock and Koji both went two of three.
Pressley was two of three for the Hawks.
The Mustang JVs fell to 1-1 with a 9-3 loss at home. Joseph Lee was two of three with two RBIs and pitched well in relief, according to Coach Ron Watson.
“Our inexperience showed in this game,” Watson said.
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