Carroll Bickers was hoping that his team would respond to Wednesday’s loss against Monticello in one way, shape or form. Though his offense may have struggled against the Mustangs, that wasn’t the case against Western Albemarle, as the Patriots bats were red hot, pacing a 17-2 home win over their rival.
“That was a real nice day for us,” Bickers said. “If we don’t get right, any team can beat us. We weren’t focused then, but we did a better job today.”
Albemarle jumped on the Warriors early, as they scored six runs in the bottom of the first. Josh Sites drove in the first two runs of the game with his double, but Cody Chisholm stole the show with his 3-run blast to left field three batters later.
“It was 3-1 and I was looking for a fastball but I got a hanging curveball instead,” Chisholm said of his homer. “So I just took advantage of it.”
Western cut the lead down to five in the second inning on after double from Nick Kuzjak was followed by an RBI single from Scott Wakely, but that was the brightest moment for the Warriors as the Patriots went on another scoring tear in the bottom of the fourth.
The Patriots worked through 16 batters in an 11-run inning that would eventually incur a slaughter rule as seven different batters drove in a run including Rashad Talley and Luke Ford who each brought home a pair of runs on deep singles.
Albemarle’s Jason White worked four of the team’s five innings on the mound and surrendered one run on four hits and one walk. The Patriots infield also had a solid day as they provided 12 of the team’s total 15 outs.
Chisholm finished the game 3 for 4 with five RBIs while Sites went 4 for 4 with 3 RBI and three runs scored.
“It always feels good to beat Western,” Sites said. “I didn’t have anything against Monticello but it was all there today. I don’t know, it’s baseball and some days you have it, and some days you don’t. Today was one of those days.”
As for the Warriors, Nick Pegan went 2 for 3 and had an RBI double in the top of the fifth, and Western coach Skip Hudgins is looking forward to shaking off the loss and resuming play next week.
“We didn’t do anything well, but we know we aren’t that bad,” Hudgins said. “We didn’t pitch well, we didn’t field well, we didn’t swing the bats well. This is what’s going to happen if you do that. We’ll just have to get back to work tomorrow.”
Western (1-1) hosts Louisa County on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Albemarle (1-1) will head to Monticello on Tuesday also at 5 p.m.
