Behind a big fifth inning and some added insurance in the seventh, Orange County baseball was able to top William Monroe on the road 8-2 in the season opener for both squads.
The Hornets plated five runners in the top of the fifth. The spree started with a Jacob Guempel single who later scored on an error. Zach Cubbage then delivered a 2-run single to score Christian Koontz and Devin Champion. In the next at bat, Cubbage scored when Cannon Davies came through with an RBI double. Finally, Tucker Hensely came up with a 2-out RBI double to make it 5-0.
In the seventh, the Hornets padded their lead with sacrifice fly from Davies and a 2-run homerun from Hensley to pad the lead to 8-0.
The Dragons broke up the shutout in the bottom of the seventh with Jonathan Sexton scoring on an RBI single from Alex Kinsey. A bases loaded pinch hit RBI single from Hunter Powell made it 8-2 with no outs. But Orange was able to get a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to end any further threat of a comeback.
Davies picked up the win on the mound for Orange. He threw four and a third innings and gave up just two hits to five strikeouts. Hensley was the only Hornet with more than one hit. He 2-for-3 at the plate and had three RBI.
For Monroe, Reilly Owen threw the first four innings and gave up just 2 hits, one earned run and struck out six batters. Sexton was the lone dragon with a multi hit game as he went 2-for-3.
Orange will face Spotsylvania on Friday while Monroe will face Turner Ashby on Thursday.
