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| The Kannapolis catcher tags out Colby Seaford, but Mocksville rallies for an 8-5 division win on the road. |
That was not enough to deter Mocksville, which excelled from the fourth inning on and won 8-5 because starter Zack Russell-Myers and reliever Justin Kidd upstaged Wright. Mocksville (5-2 overall) also improved to 2-1 in the division because Garrett Benge, Jacob Vernon and Colby Seaford provided clutch hits.
“Wright was pumping 90, 91, and he blew us away in the first three innings,” coach Mike Lovelace said. “There were four colleges there (to scout Wright).”
Mocksville recovered from a 6-3 loss at Lexington three days earlier.
Mocksville was held to one base runner in the first three innings, by which time it had dug the 3-0 deficit. But Mocksville took over in the fourth, scoring four runs for a 4-3 lead. It started with two outs and nobody on. After Seth Miller walked, Kidd singled hard up the middle. Brandon Stewart was hit by a pitch before Benge plated a pair with a single to left. Vernon singled down the right-field line to tie the game, and Mocksville broke in front when Seaford beat out a grounder past Wright.
Mocksville chased Wright in the sixth. Stewart set a two-run rally in motion by bunting for a hit. He dropped it on the third-base side.
“It’s one of the best bunt singles I’ve seen in a long time,” Lovelace said.
Vernon drew a one-out walk. One run scored on a Seaford single, and two runs scored when Heath Boyd’s fly was dropped.
Chris Kinard, who cranked out six homers last year, finally hit his first in the ninth, a two-run shot that stretched Mocksville’s lead to 8-3.
Meanwhile, Lovelace admired the poise of Russell-Myers, who responded from the 3-0 deficit with tremendous stuff for a span of four innings. His first start of the season resulted in a 2-0 record, and he has struck out 12 in 10 2/3 innings.
“He gave up two base runners (from the third through the sixth),” Lovelace said. “He’s the fastest worker I’ve ever been around. I had to tell him to step off (the rubber) twice. He was ready to pitch before the batter was in the box. We were in the seventh inning in an hour, 18 minutes.”
Evidently, Kidd’s spot pitching in 2007 was no fluke. In three appearances last year, he struck out 10 and gave up two hits in seven scoreless innings. In three innings at Kannapolis, he struck ... subscribe to the Davie County Enterprise Record, P.O. Box 99, Mocksville, N.C. 27028.