Jeff Linville | The News
North Surry’s Dustin Johnson kept the Wildcats under control for three innings, but then West Stokes exploded for 13 runs in two innings.
North Surry’s four-game winning streak was snapped by West Stokes Friday night.
The Wildcats’ Zach McGee and Caleb Cox put up big hitting numbers as the visiting team won 16-0 in five innings.
West Stokes came into the game 4-0, with no game closer than five runs. The Cats outscored the other teams 40-7, including 13-0 win over Bishop McGuinness.
The Greyhounds were 4-1 and riding high after a close 3-2 win over cross-town rival Mount Airy on Wednesday.
That was a physically demanding game because of the cold and wind, noted Coach Travis Gammons.
While the Hounds certainly didn’t overlook West Stokes, Gammons said he just didn’t see the same performance out of his guys after that big win.
Walks and errors hit the team in this game, the coach said. With the hitting of McGee and Cox, the Wildcats were able to blow open the game in the fourth and fifth innings.
Dustin Johnson started the game for North and pitched a scoreless first inning.
The Hounds loaded the bases in the bottom half, but couldn’t score.
David Shaeffer nearly gave McGee a buzz cut with a liner up the middle with one out.
Payden Simmons and Nick Wilson then walked to bring up Tyler Clement.
Clement fell behind in the count, but fouled off several pitches before popping up in foul territory past third base. That was the second out.
Then with Logan Sawyers at the plate, Simmons strayed too far off second.
McGee turned and threw to the base. Simmons was forced toward third where Shaeffer was standing.
Shaeffer tried to head for home, but was caught in a rundown for the third out.
In the second inning, Johnson walked McGee, then moved the courtesy runner to second with a wild pitch.
Cox singled to left to score the runner for a 1-0 lead.
After a walk, Johnson struck out the next batter. However, he would throw eight straight balls to walk in Cox for a 2-0 lead.
In the third inning, Johnson got the batter to ground to second, but an error and a wild pitch put a runner in scoring position.
McGee singled to center for a 3-0 lead.
Cox then hit a sharp ball to the left side.
The Hounds then turned a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
After Johnson left the mound for the next inning, Logan Sawyers and Caleb Hobernicht had trouble stopping West Stokes.
Shaeffer had a good night at the plate, but the offense didn’t generate much other than that, noted Gammons.
McGee did a good job of changing speeds, but the Hounds also took too many fastballs early in the count, the coach pointed out.
North Surry will look to get back on a new winning streak as it hosts East Wilkes on Monday.
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