“We struck out 12 times, and eight of them were looking,” said LB coach Todd Smith. “The strike zone was pretty wide and we didn’t adjust.”
Connor Fuhrman, Carson Peggins, Luke Richards and Sammy Peery had one hit each for LB as the Cavs uncharacteristically struggled at the plate. Peggins pitched the first five innings and took the loss with Peery pitching the sixth.
The loss ended LB’s season at 8-5 after a 7-1 start. Botetourt ended the regular season last Friday with a 4-3 extra innings win over Northside. Had Botetourt lost that game the Cavaliers would have had to play a “play-in” game on Saturday.
The win over Northside was a thriller. LB trailed 3-1 into the bottom of the seventh but Peggins drilled a two-run homer to send the game into extra innings. Peery retired Northside in the top of the eighth and pinch hitter Colin Sell got things going in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff single. The Cavs loaded the bases and Sell scored on a drive off the right field fence by Fuhrman that was scored a single as just one run, the winning one, was needed. Peery picked up the win in relief of starter Matt Oliver and reliever Nate Prince.
Botetourt loses six seniors from this year’s team, but Smith will have talent returning.
“We have some talent coming back and we had a strong jayvee team,” he said. “Pitching will be the question mark.”