Huskies Fall to 0-7 in MVC

By Joel Frady

North Wilkes Prevents Ashe Comeback
For the second game in a row, the Ashe County High School varsity baseball team faced a large deficit

heading into the final inning. Facing the North Wilkes Vikings on Monday, April 6, the Huskies trailed 8-3.

Only three days prior, the Huskies had trailed 10-4 to Forbush and scored four runs to pull within two before Forbush finished the game. The Huskies added a second four-run final inning in Hays, but the result was similar: an 8-7 loss that dropped the Huskies to 0-6 in the Mountain Valley Conference.

The first inning didn't help the Huskies, either, as they surrendered four runs in the bottom of the inning to fall behind 4-0. They scored three runs in the top of the second inning to pull within one, but the Vikings slowly put the game out of reach by scoring one run each in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings.

The bats heated up for three Ashe County players at North Wilkes, however, as junior Dalton Lewis, senior Kyle Guyton and senior Tatum Lemly each had two hits with at least one RBI and one run.

Eagles Sweep Huskies
The Huskies returned to their home field on Thursday, April 9, for a rematch against the Wilkes Central Eagles. Although the weather was much better than it was during the Huskies 13-3 loss in Wilkesboro to start the conference season, bad outings in the fourth and fifth innings doomed the Huskies to an 8-0 loss.

For the first three innings, however, it appeared that the Huskies were in for a defensive battle. Neither team got a hit in the first inning (Wilkes Central provided the inning's only base runner after he was hit by a pitch) and both teams left players on third base in the second. Wilkes Central got a double with two-out in the third but was unable to get the run.

After three innings, the game was tied at zero. But the top of the fourth took a turn for the worse for the Huskies after a batter advanced to second on a fielding error that was followed by a walk and a bunt single that loaded the bases with none out. Wilkes Central then scored two runs on a single, including the game winner, and eventually took a 3-0 lead. The Huskies went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the inning on a ground out, a pop out and a strike out.

The fifth inning was even worse for the Huskies, as Wilkes Central began the inning with a home run that hit the scoreboard and scored three more runs to go up 7-0.

Wilkes Central finished off the scoring with one run in the top of the seventh inning for the final margin of 8-0. With the victory, the Eagles swept the season series with Ashe County.

Ashe County Head Coach Ronnie Pruitt said the difference in the game was that "they put the ball in play and we didn't. That was basically the name of the game, they hit the ball and we didn't. We had a chance there in the second inning, with a guy on third and one out, but we just didn't drive him in like we should have."

Pruitt did see improvement between the two matches with Wilkes Central.

"We pitched better tonight," he said. "We only walked a few. Overall, we played a lot better than we did the first time."

Ashe County played home matches against Surry Central and East Wilkes on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 14 and 15, but neither score was available at press time. They will travel to North Surry on Friday, April 17, and to Starmount on Tuesday, April 21.

To find out more about the Ashe County High School baseball program, call (336) 846-2400 or click to www.ashe.k12.nc.us/achs/web/home/index.htm.