By: Sammy Johnson
The Pilots won at home in dominating fashion, beating the Salamanders 9-1. This game was all Pilots, as they never trailed for the whole game. Every asset of the game; hitting, pitching, and baserunning was dominated by the Pilots.
After a game where the Pilots couldn’t get much going offensively, they bounced back well today. The Pilots had a total of eleven hits, with four batters having multi-hit games. Players with multi-hit games included Hunter Cole (Randolph Macon), Aaron Manias (Howard College), Zac Morris (South Carolina), and Cohen Wilbanks (Georgia Gwinett).
Batters also showed great plate discipline all inning, walking eleven times. Ryan Dooley (JMU) walked in every at-bat, officially going 0-0 with five walks. Players with multi-walk games included Ryan Dooley, Aaron Manias, and Henry Garcia (Howard College).
Hunter Cole was the star of the day for the Pilots, going 3-5 with a double and four RBIs. He also continued his success on the basepath stealing three bases, now totalling twelve on the year.
Brian Ereu (Univ. of Science and Art) got the start for the Pilots and was the winning pitcher. The right-hander had an outstanding performance, giving up one run and four hits over six innings.
Nick Willard (Liberty) came in relief for the Pilots, picking up where Ereu left off, striking out the side in the top of the seventh. In his three innings pitched, he struck out an absurd nine batters out of the eleven he faced. Willard ended up getting the save for the Pilots, his first of the year.
In total, the Pilots pitching combined for fourteen strikeouts.
Hunter Cole (Randolph Macon) struck first for the Pilots in the second inning, hitting an RBI single to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Cole also stole his team-leading tenth bag of the season in the inning, stealing third with one out in the inning.
The Pilots extended this lead in the bottom of the third, scoring two runs on one hit and two walks. With the bases loaded and no outs, Cole Stanford (Lenoir Rhyne) hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field, scoring one and moving a runner to third. This proved important, as Hunter Cole got his second RBI of the day later in the inning on a fielder’s choice. After three innings, it was 3-0 Pilots.
More Pilot insurance runs came in the bottom of the fifth inning. Hunter Cole continued his impressive day with a two-RBI double down the left-field line in the bottom of the fifth inning. Cohen Wilbanks (George Gwinett) singled to left field to score a run and extend the Pilots’ lead to 6-1.
The Pilots kept it going in the bottom of the seventh with two more runs. Henry Garcia (Howard College) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score a run, and Trey Morgan put across a run in the next at-bat with an RBI groundout.
Mason Dunaway (JMU) put a bow on the game with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Pilots are back in action tomorrow night at 7 PM for a home matchup against the Chili Peppers.