Lord Botetourt senior Garrett Lonker no-hit Salem for five innings before the Spartans rallied for seven late runs to down the Cavaliers in a non-district baseball game Monday. The visiting Spartans took a 7-1 win in Daleville.
The game was scoreless through four and a half innings before Botetourt broke through in the bottom of the fifth. Jairdan Pennix doubled down the left-field line to plate Hayden Bushnell and give the Cavs a 1-0 lead after five.
Lonker still had not allowed a hit into the sixth inning, but Salem’s Aiden Poff homered for the Spartans’ first hit to tie the game. Lonker then gave up another hit and was relieved by Brady Kish after having thrown 82 pitches.
“He said he felt good so we let him go out for the sixth inning,” said LB coach Todd Smith. “He’d already thrown over 75 pitches so he wasn’t going to be able to pitch again this week anyway. You can throw 110 pitches by rule, but no one throws that many at the beginning of the year.”
Photos by Brian Hoffman
Salem scored two more runs, both unearned, with Kish on the mound before he got a strikeout to end the threat. Salem put four more on the board in the top of the seventh with Kish and then Kobe Hairston on the mound, and some poor fielding contributed to the rally.
The Cavaliers finished with four hits, one each by Pennix, Bushnell, Beau Lonker and a perfectly placed bunt by Kish.
With the loss Botetourt is now 0-2 on the season. The Cavs will be back on the Daleville diamond today to host Magna Vista for a game and then some. When LB visited Ridgeway the game was halted due to darkness with the Cavaliers leading 12-8 and the Warriors batting in the bottom of the fifth. That game will be concluded and a second game will be played upon its conclusion.
The Cavs are home again next Monday to host Hidden Valley.
