The Commonwealth Games baseball tournament was played at Liberty University in Lynchburg last weekend and one James River and three Lord Botetourt players participated. The four locals were members of the West team, coached by Rodney Spradlin.
Rising LB seniors Kyle Arnholt and rising juniors Owen Prince and Conner Fuhrman played for the West along with Heath Andrews, who just completed his freshman year at James River High School. The team went 1-3 but was competitive in every game.
The West opened against the Central team on Friday night. After falling behind 10-1 in the second inning they rallied to make it a game before falling 12-10.
On Saturday the West dropped an 8-6 game to the East, but bounced back for a 17-8 win over the North, who had already qualified for the gold medal game at that point. North went on to beat the East in Sunday’s gold medal game, winning for the second year in a row, while the West lost in the bronze medal game to Central, 7-3.
Arnholt, who also committed to Appalachian State to play football in college last weekend, had seven runs batted in over the four games as he went five for 14 at the plate with two doubles. Prince was four for 10 and also pitched four innings, while Andrews had one hit and pitched one inning without allowing an earned run.
Fuhrman missed Friday’s game as he was in Georgia for a travel team tournament. He returned to play Saturday and in two games he was hit by pitches twice and walked three times. Conner hurt his hand Saturday and did not play Sunday.
Overall, the West team had a .352 team batting average and, despite going 1-3, outscored the opposition 36-35 over the four games.
