[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
| The Mocksville Legion baseball team has continued its winning tradition in the early part of the season. |
That’s not exactly the recipe for success, but that’s what made a 12-8 win in the Southern Division opener that much sweeter for Mocksville, which never trailed and improved its overall record to 3-1.
Last year Kinard hit .369 with six home runs.
“I think Kinard, Benge and Russell-Myers are three of our best sticks,” Lovelace said. “They’re not swinging it very well yet, and we’re still scoring (over 10 runs per game).”
Mocksville bounced back from an 11-9 non-league loss at Randolph County.
There have been major developments involving Matt Leonard and Brandon Stewart. Leonard didn’t play for Davie as a 2008 senior; Stewart graduated from Davie in 2007 and didn’t play legion ball last summer. After Stanly walked in the game’s first run in the top of the first, Stewart faced a 3-2 count. He laced the payoff pitch into the left-center gap for a two-run single.
That was just the beginning for Mocksville, which scored one run in the third and two each in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth.
Leonard, who moved into the leadoff spot one game earlier, went 2 for 3 for a season total of 5 for 9. Stewart went 2 for 4, extended his hitting streak to a team-best four games and lifted his average to .438 (7 for 16).
“Like Stewart, Leonard hadn’t played in a year,” Lovelace said. “But (his speed) puts a lot of pressure on the defense. After he squared to bunt, he hit a little line drive over the third baseman’s head for a double. I know we’re only four games in, but he looks like a real good table-setter.”
Heath Boyd (2 for 3, two RBIs and two walks) and Seth Miller (1 for 1, walk, hit by pitch) have helped pick up the slack for the slow-starting trio. Boyd, who redshirted as a freshman at Harding University (Ar.), is producing at a furious rate - 7 for 13 with seven walks. Miller has banged out four hits in nine at-bats.
It was a breakout game for Justin Kidd, who went on an incredible flurry last year to hit .426. After starting 1 for 8 in 2008, he went 2 for 3 with two walks, a homer and three RBIs. His fifth-inning homer to right was a crushing blow that pushed the margin to 8-3.
Leonard, Boyd, Kidd and Stewart shared the spotlight with Zeb Cope, who doubled, singled and walked from the ... subscribe to the Davie County Enterprise Record, P.O. Box 99, Mocksville, N.C. 27028.