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East’s Brooks Miller and David Watson out-dueled Lexington’s Brittian Dunn, scattering six hits over seven innings, helping the Golden Eagles win their first game of the season, 4-1.
It was an important victory for EDHS versus a Lexington team that looked much improved from a year ago. The Yellow Jackets recently snapped a very long losing streak, and appeared confident with their lefty on the mound.
“I was real impressed with their pitcher,” said EDHS coach Dan Tricarico. “He kept them in the game and mixed it up and did a really good job. Our pitchers pretty much matched it in terms of the guys throwing the ball. We got some clutch hits when we needed them, and we made some things happen on them defensively. It was a good win. Any win is a good win.”
Miller started the game a little rough, surrendering a first inning run on a bloop single, a wild pitch and a hard hit double to center-field by Dunn. Miller would settle down after that and allow his offense time to catch up. Miller didn’t have to wait long as the Golden Eagles knotted the score at one in the second inning, plating a run with some opportunistic base running. Keaton Hawkes led off the inning with a walk and moved all the way to third following consecutive wild pitches from Dunn. Adam Lovingood drove Hawkes in, lining a rope to short that Noah Sheppard couldn’t handle.
“I just had to calm down after that first inning,” Miller said. “They [Jackets] are a whole lot better than they were last year. We didn’t take them lightly. We came out here, did our job and got it done. My curveball worked real well.”
Another lead-off walk in the bottom of the third paved the way for EDHS to take its first lead of the game. Josh Lovern coaxed a free pass this time and went to second on another pass ball. Bryson Faulkner then beat out an infield hit, putting runners at the corners for Adam Hayes. Hayes managed to put the ball in play with a grounder, plating Lovern for a 2-1 Eagle lead.
Watson took the ball in the fifth after Miller allowed only two base runners in his final three innings. Clinging to a tenuous one-run advantage, Watson picked up right where his teammate left off, striking out five in the final three frames, including two in the bottom of the seventh. The Golden Eagles made Watson’s job a tad easier with a two-spot in the bottom of the fifth, extending the EDHS edge to 4-1. Lovern scored on an error at third and Chad Ferguson came home on Hawke’s RBI single.
“My changeup and slider were working,” said Watson. “I was trying to be as focused as I could be. We didn’t hit the ball as we could’ve, and we just need to focus on hitting better.”
All news was not good, however, as Ferguson, the team’s starting third baseman, hurt his right knee crossing home plate and did not return. Ferguson has battled knee injuries the past two seasons, and his status for the rest of the year is unknown.
East plays two CCC games next week against North Rowan and Salisbury.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.