Forbush pitcher Thomas Conrad tags out West Wilkes’ Brady Penland in an attempted steal in the second inning.
Zach Colburn | Special to The Ripple
MILLERS CREEK — The Forbush baseball team flexed its offensive muscle while it collected its third win of the week with an 18-4 win at West Wilkes on Friday night.
In their trio of wins, the Falcons’ pitching and defense yielded just four runs and committed only one error.
But on Friday, Forbush’s bats delivered their highest scoring output this spring (Falcons had plated 16 runs in their win against Mooresville on March 5).
It also pounded out 17 hits (seven for extra bases) as seven Falcons registered multiple hits in the game.
Thomas Conrad, who went 3-for-5 with four runs batted in, also picked up the win on the mound. The sophomore scattered six hits, four runs (three earned) and struck out nine in five innings of work.
Conrad also helped out his own cause with a two-run homer in a five-run fifth inning for the Falcons, who evened up their Foothills 2A Conference record at 2-2.
Evan Johnson did his best to keep the Blackhawks in the game offensively as he connected on a pair of home runs.
That included a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth to cut Forbush’s double-digit lead to 12-4 and extend the game. Johnson, a Brevard College-signee, also hit a solo homer to straightaway center field in the third inning.
But the Falcons put the game to bed a half-inning later, highlighted by RBI singles from Conrad, Logan Beane and Nick Weisner.
Despite the outburst at the plate, it was West Wilkes who struck first in the run column when Bo Nichols delivered an RBI single for the early 1-0 lead.
The Blackhawks (5-6, 2-2) appeared to have scored prior to Nichols’ hit in the bottom of the first.
Avery Aiken led off the inning with a single and Jared Whittington reached on a dropped third strike. After Conrad struck out Johnson, Carson Edmiston hit what looked to be a two-run triple down the right field lane that barely stayed in play.
But after a short conversation, the umpires ruled that it went foul and Edmiston had to settle for a walk to load the bases.
Conrad then struck out A.J. Roten to leave the bases loaded before Nichols’ hit.
West Wilkes looked like it would maintain its one-run lead after two when Johnson struck out Spencer Hodges and Holden Moxley.
Beane then drew a two-out walk and Cannon Doub drove in C.J. Boyd and courtesy runner Josh Brown with a double to take the lead.
Conrad followed up with an RBI single to make it 3-1 after two.
Doub, who matched Conrad with four RBIs and a 3-for-5 plate performance, extended the lead to four (7-1) with an RBI triple. Boyd (single) and Beane (double) also drove in runs in the inning.
The Falcons, who also improved to .500 overall at 5-5 with the win, has another three-game week on the docket. After it hosted North Surry on Tuesday and traveled to Starmount on Wednesday, Forbush will travel to the Greyhounds on Friday.
Notes: Forbush (Western Piedmont 2A) and West Wilkes (Mountain Valley 1A/2A) won their respective conferences last spring; they also faced off in the second round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 2A playoffs. The Falcons won that game, 7-4…..This week’s series was the first regular season matchups between the Falcons and Blackhawks since 2013 when the two were part of a nine-team MVAC (Forbush went to the WPAC the next year).
Earlier games in the week
The Falcons snapped a four-game losing skid last Tuesday with a 7-0 win over West Wilkes in East Bend.
Forty-eight hours later, Forbush scored a 5-0 win against Ashe County at home for a second-straight shutout.
Against the Blackhawks, the Falcons led 4-0 after four innings but added three runs in the fifth.
Hodges went the distance on the mound as he allowed just one hit (a single by Daniel Lambert in the third inning), issued a pair of walks and struck out 10 to earn the win.
Moxley led the way for the Falcons as the sophomore went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs.
Against the Huskies, Forbush overcame a slow start, thanks to late-inning production.
Scoreless after three-and-a-half innings, the Falcons broke the deadlock when Dawson Graham scored on a sacrifice fly from Brady Poindexter.
Moxley, who had one of Forbush’s five hits in the game, added an RBI groundout to extend the lead to 3-0.
Graham, Weisner, Doub and Boyd also had hits in the game.
Will Summers followed up Hodges’ pitching performance with 11 strikeouts and four hits allowed with two walks in a complete-game shutout.