Albemarle Post 74 wins in extra innings

By Ryan Yemen
Published: July 8, 2008

After just the first half inning of the Legion baseball game between Orange Post 156 and host Albemarle Post 74, you would not have expected much of a game.

Albemarle’s starting pitcher, Zach Hendrix began the game by allowing a walk, a single and a home run from Jeremy Brown.

But Hendrix rebounded, shutting out Orange for the next six innings while the Albemarle bats slowly but surely tied the game up.

In the tenth inning, trailing by one run, the Albemarle offense rallied once more, and after Ryan Hughes drove in the tying run, Patrick Collins drove in Daniel Haugh to win the game, 5-4.

“We knew Zach would settle down, and that our bats would come around,” Haugh said. “I was really happy for Patrick driving in that last run. I thought we really came together as a team and got the job done.”

Haugh and Hughes were both instrumental on defense, combining for 10 assists.

“I was really proud of the team,” Maynard said. “I thought we fought really hard. That’s a good baseball team over there. We played good defense and just had some clutch hits in the end.”

Brown was also outstanding on the mound for Orange. He threw the first five innings and gave up just one run while striking out six, but was forced to leave the game after 85 pitches because he felt something unusual in his throwing arm.

“When you’ve got a kid on scholarship, and he feels a twinge in his arm it throws up a red flag,” said Orange coach Chris Haney. “We’re not here to hurt guys. It’s just not worth it.”

Losing Brown proved costly on both sides of the plate. The rest of the Orange offense was only able to muster up five hits and one RBI, which came from a double hit by Orange’s D.J. Brown.

“We really didn’t do much after the third in-ning,” Haney said. “The game really changed after we got picked off to end the third inning. We were hitting early, but then [Hendrix} started throwing strikes.”

Albemarle scored its first three runs on a ground out, fielder’s choice and single in the fourth, sixth and seventh before Hughes and Collins came up big in the clutch.