The James River baseball team is the seventh seed in the Region 2C tournament and will open play Thursday at second seeded Appomattox.
River finished the regular season on a high note last week, defeating Glenvar and Radford in Three Rivers District games. The Knights were scheduled to play Radford at home on Tuesday to close out the regular season but that game was rained out.
The Knights won at Glenvar last Wednesday, 10-3. River scored three runs in the top of the first then rallied for five in the third to take an 8-1 lead. Glenvar scored two in the fourth but the Knights answered with two in the top of the fifth to put it away.
Photos by Brian Hoffman
“This was a huge win to solidify ourselves a region game this year,” said River coach Chance Henry. “We definitely came in with a little bit of chip on our shoulder and did a great job of taking what was given to us. We earned our walks and had some guys come through with huge hits.”
Hunter Mays drove in four runs highlighted by a bases-loaded triple in the third inning. Logan Joyce pitched a complete game to pick up the win.
“This was the best pitched game of his life,” said Henry. “He had all three of his pitches working and he threw enough strikes to make them be aggressive. I was proud and happy for him to have this memory.”
On Thursday at Radford the Knights won 8-4. They opened an 8-0 lead after four and a half innings as Evan Joyce shutout the Bobcats over four innings, fanning five. Hunter Mays pitched two and a third innings and Cam Saunders got the last two outs.
“We did what we were supposed to do against Radford in this one,” said Henry. “This was their fourth game of the week and they’re usually a tough opponent.”
Hunter Mays had another good game at the plate with three hits. Carter Birchead had two hits and Carter and Saunders drove in two runs each.
With the two wins the Knights improved to 8-14 on the season.
