Crazy, Fun, Wild, Happy Win

A 0-0 game going into the 8th inning in high school baseball, you don't see that often, but that's what we had on Thursday, April 4th vs. the Avery County Vikings.  Josh Owens gave the home Bulldogs four shutout innings on the bump, followed by three shutout innings from freshman, Morgan Lyons before Avery County got on the board.  A game that saw the Bulldogs hit several balls hard with nothing to show for it, came to the bottom of the 8th inning with the home Bulldogs down 1-0.  Morgan Lyons beat out a throw from the Avery County shortstop for a single.  He promptly stole 2B, and advanced to 3B, as the Viking middle infielder could not handle a throw from the Viking catcher.  

Thinking about running a suicide squeeze, the Hampton coaching staff decided to allow Weston Street to swing away with Lyons on 3B and no one out.  Street flew out to Avery's left fielder to score the freshman, Lyons from 3B to tie the game at one run apiece.  The top of the 9th saw Avery County take a 3-1 lead against a tiring, Lyons.  Senior, Devin Riddle, on his 18th birthday, came in out of the Hampton bullpen to retire the final Viking batter of the day in the top of the 9th.  

Hampton came to bat in the last half inning of the game with designated hitter, Dalton Rouse leading off with a scorched double that hit the outfield grass and bounced over the head of Avery's centerfielder.  Junior, Mitchell Tolley pinch ran for Rouse.  He promptly scored on a double by freshman SS, Caleb Royston.  Caleb Oaks, who hit sixth and played first base, flew out to shallow RF, leaving Royston at 2B with one out.  Junior, Elijah Smith hit a line drive shot only to have it caught by the Avery County SS for the second out. 

Now with two outs, down 3-2, Royston swiped 3B, before scoring on a passed ball by the Avery catcher to tie the game at three runs apiece.  Junior LF, Landen Street then burned Avery County's centerfielder with a double of his own to put himself in scoring position.  Still with two outs, Morgan Lyon's spot was up, but Devin Riddle was now hitting in his spot in the order and the Bulldog coaching staff wanted to keep Devin on the mound if they had to go back out into the field.  Riddle battled, working the count full, before striking out, but a ball getting by the Viking catcher allowed Riddle to advance to 1B and moved Landen Street up to 3B.  Weston Street was up.  The same player who tied the game on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 8th, hit a walk-off single up the middle to score his twin brother, to give the Hampton Bulldogs a wild, crazy, fun, win at Scotty Bunton Field.