The final score of this game does not tell the story of the Battle we saw between the Grimsley Whirlies and the Northern Guilford Nighthawks, on Wednesday night at First National Bank Field, in Downtown Greensboro…
The score was 2-1, Grimsley in front, going to the bottom of the sixth inning, and that’s when the Whirlies went to work, and put the game away…But up until then, from the First to Sixth Inning, we had an Old Fashioned Battle going on at the ballpark…
The starting pitchers pretty much stole the show, and they both were on center stage, at FNB Field…Eli Ponder got the call for the Whirlies, and Brayden Durham started out working on the hill, for the NG Nighthawks…
Ponder owned the game early on, as he struck 7 of the 8 batters he faced to begin the contest…Northern came up with a groundout, but that was about it, in the early innings with NG at the plate…
Grimsley jumped on top in this game in the bottom of the first, as the Whirlies were able to produce back-to-back Doubles from Max Snider and Tai Richmond, while Ponder had walked vs. Durham, to get Grimsley rolling…2-0 Grimsley after one inning, but then Brayden Durham settled down and really started to mow down the Grimsley batters, as Durham hit a stretch where he retired 9 consecutive Whirlie batters…
It was Ponder and Durham, and Durham and Ponder, and you had to wonder if this was not going to go all the way to end of the night, with the game being decided by just one run…
Brayden Durham reached on a single for Northern, and since he was the pitcher, he got a pinch runner in the game for him, and Sloan Littleton came in to scored the only Nighthawks’ run of the game, there in the Top of the Fourth Inning…There was a wild pitch in there that helped Littleton cross home plate, plus the Double by Riley Gladwell proved to be large for Northern Guilford…
The score stayed deadlocked until the Sixth Inning, and Durham left the game and turned the reins over to Nicholas Vangorden and he surrendered three runs, and Grimsley was in good shape…
The Battle between Ponder and Durham was a sight to behold, and for the game, Ponder ended up as the Winning Pitcher, and Durham did take the Loss…Those two set the tone for the whole game, with their outstanding mound work, and it is fitting that they were the ones who figured into this decision….
Wow, for the Game, this how it looked for the WP Eli Ponder….
Ponder went 6 Innings, gave up 1 Run, on 2 hits with 1 BB and 11 big Strikeouts…
Durham goes 4 2/3’s for Northern, allowing 2 Runs, on 3 Hits, with 1 BB, and 3 Ks…
Vandgorden and Brewer worked in relief for NG, and Barrett LaFrance went one inning from the bullpen, to close out the win, for the Grimsley Whirlies…
Grimsley(17-3)
Northern Guilford(12-9)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Northern Guilford 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 0
Grimsley 2 0 0 0 0 3 - 5 6 0
Some of the top hitters and we will add more later on…
Grimsley:
Eli Ponder 1-2/BB 2 Runs…He runs for himself…
Max Snyder 1-2/Double/BB/RBI/2 Runs…
Tai Richmond 1-3/Double/RBI
Patrick Whitehead 2-3/RBI
Fincastle/Finn Millard 1-1/2 RBI Single
from the Overall:
Gabe Doolen 0-3
Adam Takacs 0-2/IBB
Christian Piccioli 0-1/SAC Bunt
Lorenzo Steinke 0-2/BB
Broach Dixon 0-3
Northern:
Brayden Durham 1-3/Sloan Littleton Run
Riley Gladwell 1-3/Double
Luke Parrish 1-1
from the Overall:
Caleb Hinnant 0-2/SAC Bunt
Nicholas Vangorden 0-3
Nathanael Lorczak 0-2/BB
Carson Hooks 0-2
Nolan Shaffer 0-3
Will Porter 0-2
Austin Brewer 0-2….
More numbers later on tonight and MORE Scores on the North Carolina Baseball Academy Scoreboard….