Mount Airy’s John Bowman pitched a no-hitter as the Granite Bears stomped T.W. Andrews 15-1 in five innings Thursday.

The southpaw struck out seven batters, and the defense played well behind him, said Coach Jon Cawley.

“I’ve been trying to tell them that defense wins championships,” he said. The team had no errors on this night.

Andrews, a 2A school from High Point, has some good athletes, but seemed to fall apart with the Bears’ aggressive baserunning, Cawley said.

“It was the best game Mount Airy has played since I started coaching,” said Cawley, who assisted Mack Hodges before taking over as head coach last year.

“We hit the ball hard about a dozen times, and eight fell in for hits,” he said.

Once the Bears got on base, the players turned into kleptomaniacs, stealing a whopping 14 bases in the first four innings.

“It started to get in their heads a little bit,” Cawley said of the Andrews players.

The Bears scored three runs in the first and nine runs in the second. Three more runs in the fourth inning put the Bears up by more than 10 runs, finishing the game early.

Catcher Sam Harris had five RBIs out of the third spot in the lineup, and cleanup hitter Logan Young added three RBIs.

“A lot of the kids got to play, and everyone contributed,” he said.

Cawley said it felt good to get that first win, especially with conference play beginning today.

The Bears lost two close games to Forsyth Country Day, then lost to North Forsyth 5-2.

Mount Airy hosts Bishop McGuinness today around 6:30 p.m.