By Stephen Henderson
The Patrick County High School junior varsity baseball team won three games last week with a total of 33 runs to their opponents’ three runs.
Last Tuesday, the JV Cougars defeated Martinsville 15-0 after three innings. Friday the Cougars defeated George Washington of Danville 8-3 and 10-0 in a double-header that was supposed to include two five-inning games. Only the first one went five innings; the second one was called after the third when the score was 10-0.
In Tuesday’s game against Martinsville, Coach Donald Rakes was pleased with the team’s batting. “We swung the bats with authority tonight. Even though the game was out of hand, I thought we showed a lot of discipline at the plate,” he added. “We had a really good pitching performance from all three of our guys as well,” he added.
Shout-outs go to Kelon Penn who had two hits and three RBI’s. “He is really swinging a hot bat for us,” Rakes said. “Nick Duncan is really throwing the ball well. He has had no earned runs in the past 12 innings,” he added.
In the first game of Friday’s double-header at GW of Danville, the Cougar JVs had trouble with the Eagles’ off-speed pitching. “We focused at the plate and had better at-bats as the game progressed,” Rakes said.
“We played really good defense behind Josh Cockram and Nick Duncan. Our base running was excellent with 13 stolen bases,” he said.
Shout-outs go to Lane Taylor and Taylor Swails—two guys brought from the middle school team who each recorded an RBI apiece. Nick Duncan threw two innings of shutdown relief. He has now not allowed an earned run in his last 20 innings this year.
In game two, the Cougars jumped to 9-0 score in the first inning. They scored the 10th run in the second inning.
“The night was a long one for our guys—a double-header and a 30-minute lightning delay,” said Rakes.
“We played really good defense again. We have not committed an error in our last four games,” Rakes said.
Kelon Penn pitched three innings for the complete game with no hits allowed and seven strikeouts.
The JV Cougars played Tuesday at Tunstall. They will play at Blacksburg Wednesday, and will host Bassett Friday.
