For a team that had four sophomores and a freshman in its starting lineup, it sure didn’t show. Albemarle faced fellow Conference 16 member Patrick Henry (Roanoke) for its season debut and watched as the underclassmen led the way for an especially clean 6-0 victory.
“I was just tickled to death, playing that way with as young as we are,” said Albemarle coach Jimmy Bibb. “We swung the bats pretty well early — Patrick Henry was able to make some adjustments later defensively — but a lot of the guys with the big hits, they’re young too. That’s pretty exciting. We made all the plays defensively, the routine ones and then a couple of nice ones.”
Aaron Leathers got the start for Albemarle and was impressive in his first showing of the season. The junior retired the first six batters he faced and picked up the win with his four innings of shutout work.
“It was a steady diet of fastballs with a curveball or two,” Leathers said. “The (way the game started) gave me some momentum so I was able to get through the fourth. The defense helped a lot, backed me up the whole game.”
The Patriots faced just one jam in the game. In the top of the third, Patrick Henry appeared to have the bases loaded, but a base running miscue cost the visitors their runner at first with Jacob Nash making the tag. The open base allowed Albemarle to get away with a walk before earning an inning ending out in the next at-bat.
“We stuck with throwing the ball around the plate while we were making plays,” Bibb said. “We got that big out there and it helped keep the shutout. If they score a run there, who knows, maybe we get a little tight and then they’re just a hit here or there away from tying things.”
Offensively, Albemarle did the bulk of its damage in the bottom of the second. After Alex Petroka earned a leadoff walk, he was moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt. After a Mark Thomas single, Petroka scored on a fielder’s choice from Ian Haney. With two outs, Albemarle tacked on three more runs. Michael Varaksa reached on a single and then Nathan Toney’s RBI double drove in Haney. A 2-run double from Ryan Porter in the next at-bat put Albemarle up comfortably, 4-0.
“We’re a pretty good hitting team with a lot of guys that can come into a lot of different situations and give us some big hits,” Ryan Porter said. “We’re all ready to come in and so each game we’re expecting to put together a good rally. We might be young, but we’re all skilled.”
In the sixth inning Albemarle tacked on some added insurance. The rally began with back-to-back walks to Varaksa and Toney. Then an RBI single from Andrew Porter and an RBI groundout from Nash pumped the lead up to 6-0.
On the night, Toney and Ryan Porter were all 2-for-3. Jake Browning was 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles. Varaksa was 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored.
Albemarle (1-0) hosts a double-header with Atlee on Saturday with the first game starting at 11 a.m.
