New Hope High School pitcher Noah Brock’s breaking ball started to lose its bite in the sixth inning Tuesday night. He was beginning to miss his spots, and he’d just plunked a Starkville High batter.
An error helped Starkville put two runners on for a chance at its first run.
It was uncharted territory for Brock, who usually sees the sixth inning in relief duty. But nearing 100 pitches and clinging to a two-run lead, he had to dig deep. He did just that, retiring the next two batters to win his first career start and power the Trojans to a 3-1 win.
“My arm was getting sore there for a little while,” Brock said. “The biggest thing is to bear down and just throw strikes … let the defense work.”
Brock, a sophomore, hadn’t thrown more than 60 pitches in an outing prior to Tuesday, according to New Hope High coach Lee Boyd. Brock gave up one run on two hits and struck out seven. He walked two and faced four batters or fewer in five of six innings.
“(Brock) went with the fastball and breaking ball, for the most part,” Boyd said. “He’s been mid-80s most of the year. His 12-6 breaking ball was breaking really good early on. It turned to more of a spinner later on, just more of a deception to keep them off balance, but the fastball and breaking ball were working.”
Brock shut down Starkville’s top hitter, AJ Brown, in a pair of key situations in which the All-American had a runner in scoring position in three at-bats, including Milton Smith (2-for-3) at third in the first. Brock was unfazed and struck out Brown twice. Brown finished 0-for-3.
“AJ’s one of the best players in the state, and he’s a big threat at the plate,” Brock said. “But I felt like if we attack the zone and hit the spots like we’re supposed to we can limit his on-base opportunities.”
Starkville starter JD Taylor, a senior, went all six innings in his second career start. He had a much more arduous path to navigate, particularly in his final three frames. Taylor escaped the fourth unscathed after New Hope (5-1) put runners on the corners with no outs. But the Trojans struck for two in the fifth behind a leadoff single from nine-hole hitter Shay Boyd, an RBI single from Tyler Jones, and a sacrifice fly from Aidan Fletcher that drove in a run.
“We (Taylor) last week in a game, and he threw well,” Starkville coach Travis Garner said. “If we were healthy, he wouldn’t have pitched tonight, but he got bumped up and pitched a gem. I’m really proud of him.”
New Hope scored its third run in the sixth through Thomas Stevens, whose RBI single helped New Hope capitalize on an error and hit batter that put two runners on to start the frame. Stevens, New Hope’s three-hole hitter, helped the top of the Trojans’ lineup finish 5-for-11 with all three of the team’s RBIs and two of its runs. Seniors Will Godfrey went 2-for-3 with a run, and Jones went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
“We have some seniors, but a lot of them are in this position for the first time, so to get them in that situation like that, like we’ll see in division play, is good for them,” Boyd said.
Starkville (2-3) had the tying run at second with one out in the top of the seventh after Godfrey, who’d switched from catcher to pitcher, gave up a single and walk to begin the inning. But a ground out by Smith and a base-running error accounted for two outs in one play to end the game.
“We’re young, and that’s a sophomore out there,” Garner said. “We’re just trying to be aggressive. We’d love to have AJ swinging it at the end, but it didn’t work out.
“New Hope is the measuring stick around this area each year. I told the team that this is a district game … we played a district game two weeks early. We don’t have the history (New Hope) has, and to come here and go toe to toe with a bunch that’s never done it before says a lot about where we are.”
n Pickens Academy 18, Restoration Academy 5: Ryan Harcrow and Jeff White had two hits Tuesday to lead the Pirates (6-1).
Harcrow had a single and a double and two RBIs, while White had two singles and three RBIs.
Brant Criswell had a triple and an RBI, Will Jones had a double and an RBI, and Hugh Cameron and Chance Britt had a double and two RBIs.
Preston Pogue allowed one hit in three innings. He walked three and struck out four.
Kris Cooper allowed three hits and three walks in an inning. He struck out two. White struck out two in one inning.
Pickens Academy will play host to Marengo Academy at 6 p.m. Thursday.
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