RUTHERFORDTON — Harrison Jackson’s triple in the bottom of the fourth broke open the game for the Hilltoppers and sparked their 10-3 victory over Chesnee Thursday night (March 23). Backing up these 10 runs was Trey Shearer who entered the game at the end of the third inning to finish out the game with eight strikeouts, only giving up one run on five hits.
“Overall we played well tonight and that was good to see,” head coach Chadd Fowler said. “We got into some situations where we were able to do damage. We really hit the ball well tonight, hopefully that’ll get us going into tomorrow night.”
Caleb White started the night off on the mound for the Hilltoppers. White racked up four strikeouts in his two and 2/3 innings but could’t quite catch his stride, giving up the first run of the game. Lenior Rhyne commit Shearer stepped in at the end of the third and ended the inning with a pick off to second base.
“It felt good to have a good outing this week, especially for me this year, it felt good to come out and throw strikes,” Shearer said. “I felt like my stuff was on tonight and I threw pretty well and I’m glad to have a great defense behind me to make every play they can.”
Chesnee took a quick 1-0 lead after the first from a sacrifice fly but the Hilltoppers answered right back after singles from White and Isaiah Hipp drove in Joel Gomez and Conner Croussore for the 2-1 lead, with two outs in the inning.
With one out in the fourth, Shearer and Hayden Wilson occupied first and second base. Jackson approached the plate and launched the ball to the right field fence for a triple, driving in two runs. A double from Wheeler brought Jackson in to increase the Hilltoppers’ lead to 5-2.
Jackson returned to the plate in the fifth where he crushed another triple and drove in two more runs to increase the Hilltoppers’ lead to 8-3.
“I was seeing [the ball] pretty good, especially after the first at bat and I was just trying to give my team the best shot at winning, any way possible,” Jackson said. “I’ve got a job to do and I just want to do my best at any point in time.”
The Hilltoppers added two more runs in the sixth when a triple from White brought in Audrey Scruggs and Croussore for the 10-3 final. The Hilltoppers didn’t get to rest, though, as they faced the Brevard Blue Devils on Friday, March 24.
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