LAWSONVILLE — East Surry baseball beat a top team in the Northwest 1-A Conference for the second straight day Wednesday, taking out the first-place North Stokes Vikings, 6-0.
The Cardinals pounded Bishop McGuinness 12-2 Tuesday and rode that momentum to Wednesday’s crucial conference win.
East Surry junior pitcher Troy Jessup threw a three-hit complete game shutout, striking out five and walking just two while senior Spence Tuttle led the way for the Cardinals at the plate, finishing 3-for-3 with two runs, two doubles and two RBI.
Cardinals coach Barry Hall said Wednesday was Jessup’s best pitching performance since he joined the varsity his freshman season.
“It’s his best outing since he’s been here,” Hall said. “A lot of that had to do because of how big a game it was with us playing a first place team and we have to win to get back in it. He was really sharp today. He threw less than 100 pitches which is good for him.”
Hall credited Wednesday’s win not only to Jessup’s strong pitching, but some timely hitting which has seemed to elude the Cardinals this season.
East jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first-inning after sophomore center fielder Andrew Hunter doubled to open the game. Logan Needham then picked up a one-out walk for the Cards, followed by Spence Tuttle’s first RBI double of the day to drive in Hunter.
Needham then scored on an error by the Vikings third basemen to give East the 2-0 advantage.
Hall said Tuttle’s two out double was definitely important to the Cardinals win.
“Spence had one of the biggest hits we’ve had all year,” Hall said. “He really stepped up with two outs.”
The Cardinals struck again in the third inning with the North Stokes pitching going wild, walking the first two batters of the inning to put runners in scoring position for East.
Tuttle stepped up again for his team, knocking his second double off the fence to drive in both runs. Tuttle then scored on an error by the Vikings shortstop to give the Cardinals a strong 5-0 advantage heading into the bottom of the third.
East also picked up a security run in the top of the seventh coming on an RBI double by Lathan Hunter to push the lead to 6-0 Cardinals.
“I’m proud of our young men,” Hall said. “With playing back-to-back against top conference teams we felt like we had to have both games to stay in it. They played really well yesterday, Cody Rodgers pitched well and again today we get great pitching from Troy along with good timely hitting and no errors.”
Hall pointed to Andrew Hunter, who finished 2-for-3 with a run and a double on the day, and the defensive play of shortstop Austin Tilley as other keys to the win.
North Stokes starter Eric Kalbflesich came into Wednesday’s game undefeated on the season and with the Cardinals having struggled at the plate recently, the win could not have been more important for East’s positioning in a tight Northwest 1-A Conference race.
With two wins over conference leaders Bishop and North Stokes in as many days, the Cardinals quickly find themselves back in the upper half of the conference standings.
Mount Airy and North Stokes are now tied at 5-2 and trailed by West Wilkes and Bishop at 4-2, with East Surry rounding out the last of the teams above .500 at 4-3.
Hall said Wednesday’s win keeps his team in the running for the highly coveted conference championship, which secures home-field advantage until the regionals for the winner.
“We felt like if we could beat North Stokes then we could throw it into a pretty good race,” Hall said. “It’s going to be an interesting month of April.”
East Surry will travel to Surry Central today, with varsity scheduled to play first, followed by the conclusion of a suspended game at Alleghany Friday.
EAST SURRY 6
NORTH STOKES 0
East Surry 203 000 1 — 6 7 0
North Stokes 000 000 0 — 0 3 2
WP: Troy Jessup; LP: Eric Kalbflesich
2B: ES — Andrew Hunter, Spence Tuttle (2), Lathan Hunter
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