Vina earns much-needed win over Phillips
By Staff
Mike Self, Franklin County Times
After losing on a walk-off home run to Marion County on Monday to fall to 2-5 on the season, the Vina Red Devils were badly in need of a win on Tuesday against Phillips.
Thanks to their best offensive game of the season, they got it.
Six different players had at least two hits as the Red Devils snapped their three-game losing streak with a 10-7 victory over the Bears.
"This was a big win for us," said Vina coach Greg Hamilton, whose team will return to action today at Cherokee. "We needed it bad. Phillips has a quality baseball team. They've already beaten Sulligent, who has a really good program, and Marion County twice. It was good for us to get a win against a team like that."
Vina (3-5) took control early with five runs in the bottom of the first inning and finished with a season-high 14 hits.
"This was our best hitting game of the year," Hamilton said. "We got off to a slow start, but hopefully it's starting to pick up at the right time."
The Red Devils scored all five of their first-inning runs with two outs. Kyle Green and Anthony Hester had back-to-back RBI doubles, and Brent Townsend's two-run single made it 4-1. Nash Creekmore capped the inning with an RBI single.
Vina added three more runs in the second inning and two in the fourth to open up a 10-1 lead. Phillips rallied for five runs in the sixth and one in the seventh, but the Red Devils held on for the win.
Randy Barnes was the winning pitcher, holding the Bears to three earned runs on three hits in five innings. Max Weeks earned the save.
Hester finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Green, Townsend and Blake Thorn each went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Weeks and Paul Wilkins also had two hits apiece.
In previous action:
Marion County 7 Vina 6
John Chassin's two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted Marion County past Vina on Monday.
The Red Devils trailed 5-2 before scoring four runs in the top of the fourth. The one-run lead held up until Chassin's walk-off shot in the seventh.
Morgan McCarley took the loss despite a strong outing. The freshman righthander allowed two earned runs on three hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out four.
"Morgan pitched a good game, especially for a young guy pitching on the road," head coach Greg Hamilton said. "We made a few errors behind him, and that hurt us."
Vina out-hit Marion County 11-3 in the loss.
Paul Wilkins went 4-for-4, and Kyle Green had two hits. Randy Barnes, Max Weeks, Anthony Hester, Brent Townsend and Cass White each added one hit for the Red Devils.
