After a month of preseason scrimmages and tournaments, varsity baseball played their first game of the season against Vandegrift on Tuesday, March 5, at Warrior Field. The Warriors played a dominant game defensively, successfully preventing the Vipers from scoring a single run for a final score of 2-0.
At the start of the game, catcher Michael Davis ‘24 dropped the ball on the third strike and let the Viper batter onto first base. The second batter landed a hit off the wall for a double, putting the Vipers in scoring position. However, defense held tight after the starting shake-up with pitcher Ridge Morgan ‘24 working hard to hold Vandegrift off, ending the inning with neither team scoring any runs.
“We were just trying to get the lead early which we didn’t do a great job of,” Morgan said. “But [I] kept it down on the pitching side so we were able to come back and score a couple of runs late.”
Both teams maintained strong defense through the second inning. Owen Norrell ‘24 scored the first run for the Warriors after a bunt from Lane Wood ‘24, in the bottom of the third. The infield turned a double play during the fourth inning when Wood tagged a Viper runner from second base, then threw to first baseman Jacob Wright ‘25.
“We played good as a team, good defense, good pitching,” Wood said. “It’s not like one person can do it all, Ridge did good on the mound and then we made good plays in the field, and then obviously you have to back it up hitting.”
Continuing a commanding streak on the mound, Morgan struck out two batters in a row, setting the team up for a successful fifth inning. The Warrior offense followed with two outs and a walk, but pushed ahead with Wood’s second RBI of the game; Jackson Gula’s ‘24 run set the score 2-0.
“I knew I had to get to second base and coach gave me the steal sign so I had to get the perfect jump,” Gula said. “We’ve practiced that a lot this year and it was just muscle memory whenever I ran.”
The sixth inning passed with swift outs from the Warriors and ended with no runs for either team. The game concluded when the Vipers failed to score during the seventh inning, securing a 2-0 win for the Warriors in a very important first District game.
“We’re going to win District,” Gula said. “I’m really confident in it because we’ve had great preparation and we’ve played really well this year, so I’m really excited for the season.”
The varsity baseball team will play their next game on Tuesday, March 12, at 7 p.m. against Round Rock at Warrior Field.
