Photos by Leigh Downey
The James River baseball team will travel to Alleghany High School next Tuesday, April 2, to open the Three Rivers District schedule against the Cougars. The Rivermen are off this week for spring break.
The Knights will be looking for their first win after falling to 0-6 with three losses last week, including two to Class 3 teams. The Class 2 Knights have played a challenging schedule to date with three games against Class 3 schools, a game against undefeated Class 4 Salem and two against Riverheads, a team that made the state semifinals in Class 1 last year before moving to Class 2 for the 2023-24 school year.
Last week the Knights opened with an 11-1 loss at Northside. River trailed just 1-0 after three innings before the Viking bats came alive against four different River pitchers.
“This was definitely our best game so far this year even though the score reflected otherwise,” said River coach Chance Henry.
Kody Park started and pitched well before Zeal Hammons took over, his first game action since a football injury in the fall.
“We kicked the ball around a bit behind him when he was in the game,” said Henry. “However, it being his first outing he really did well and kept us in the game. I was proud of the way he handled himself.
“Unfortunately, the game got away from us in the fifth and sixth but up until that point we had some better at bats and managed to get guys on. We just weren’t able to get them in.”
Hunter Mays had two hits and the Knights had six hits as a team.
A day later the Knights made the long trip to Riverheads and lost 11-0. River was held to two hits, one each by Mays and Gabe Staton. The Gladiators scored 10 runs in the first three innings to pull away.
On Friday the Knights played host to Staunton River and battled the Golden Eagles through six innings. The Knights led 3-2 after three innings and trailed just 5-3 after six before the visitors plated five in the top of the seventh and won 10-3.
“We competed fairly well in the game,” said Henry. “We just hit a lull in the middle part of the game with our bats and it burned us in the end.
Hammons started and pitched one inning, followed by Mays who went the next three. The two combined to allow just one earned run. Park pitched the fifth and sixth and allowed one run before the dam burst in the seventh.
Offensively, River had five hits. Mays, Park, Cam Saunders, Hunter Weaver and Logan Joyce had one hit each.
“The needle is moving in the right direction for the team,” said Henry.
