Photos by Jenn King
The Lord Botetourt baseball team defeated Carroll County, 7-1, in Hillsville last Friday to advance to the Region 3D semifinal round. The Cavaliers were in Abingdon Tuesday for a game that would clinch a spot in the state Class 3 tournament with a victory.
Abingdon, 22-2 prior to Tuesday, is the number one seed in the region and Tuesday’s results were too late for publication. The winner of that game advances to Friday’s region championship and LB would have a chance to host that game. Pulaski County and Cave Spring are playing in the other semifinal and if LB and Pulaski won, the Cavaliers will have a home game Friday. If Cave Spring won they would host the Cavaliers, and if Abingdon won Tuesday they would be home for the final regardless of the Pulaski-Cave Spring outcome.
Botetourt charged into the region semifinal with a dominating win over Carroll County last week in a battle of Cavaliers. LB starting pitcher Nolan Medley allowed just one hit through six innings before Ethan Deschambault pitched a perfect seventh. Medley struck out nine and allowed just one unearned run.
Offensively, Jakari Nicely led the charge with a four-for-four day at the plate. Nicely missed most of the season with an injury but he returned to the lineup a couple weeks ago and he drove in two runs against Carroll. Medley had three hits and Isaac Nichols and JJ Tyree had two each.
With the win LB improved to 14-7 on the season. Medley was expected to get the start against Abingdon after a low pitch count in the win over Carroll.
