Starmount third baseman Zack Armstrong fields a grounder in the first inning.
BOONVILLE — The Starmount baseball team broke into the win column for the first time this season with a pair of wins against Ashe County on Friday night.
And the victories against its former Mountain Valley Athletic Conference adversary came in drastically different ways.
The Rams held on for a 17-16 extra-inning victory in a suspended game from Tuesday night in West Jefferson and then easily claimed the night cap, 18-1, for the sweep.
Darren Shore saw action in the mound in both games for Starmount (2-4) and also had different outcomes between the two games.
On Tuesday night, The Rams trailed 11-4 after four innings but rallied for seven runs over the final two innings to force extras, tied 11-11.
Leading 14-12 at the time of halted game in the top of the tenth, the Rams tacked on three more runs after the game resumed; those runs would be vital going into the Huskies last at-bat.
Ashe County plated four runs in its final at-bat, but Shore, who came on in relief, hunkered down and held off the late charge for the win.
The junior came back to start the second game and was much more effective as he allowed just two hits (both in the second inning), walked one and struck out three in three innings of work to pick up the win.
Shore received plenty of run support from the get go. Mason Moxley, who finished with three hits and four runs batted in, put Starmount on the scoreboard with an RBI triple. The junior catcher scored on a Canyon Pennington wild pitch during Zach Dezern’s at-bat.
Starmount plated two more when Ryan Kimmer reached on an error and scored Dezern and Jackson Craver.
The Huskies cut into the Rams lead in the top of the second behind the play of Pennington.
The junior connected on a one-out double and scored on Drew Rowland’s RBI single to make it a 4-1 game.
After the double to Pennington, Shore retired five of the last six batters he would face before the ball was handed to Nohr Issa in the top of the fourth.
The Rams bats responded again in the bottom half of the second and benefitted from runners in scoring position.
Starmount, which loaded the bases in each of the first three innings, did so again with one out after Dezern (fielder’s choice), Craver (single) and Brady Fann (walk) reached base.
Zach Armstrong scored Dezern with a walk and chased Pennington in the process after just 1 1/3 innings.
Luke Kimmer welcomed reliever Samuel Tibbs to the game with an RBI single and Ryan Kimmer made it a 9-1 game after two with a two-run single.
The Huskies ended up using four different arms in the shortened game (the game was called after 4 ½ innings due to the mercy rule), but it couldn’t slow down Starmount.
After the first four Starmount players reached base in the third, Colin Estes came on for Tibbs after Fann drew a bases loaded walk.
The Rams went on to score nine runs in the third, highlighted by a trio of two-run scoring base hits from Issa, Moxley and Dezern with Dezern’s hit going for extra bases.
Starmount, which lost to Watauga, 12-2, on Monday night, drew nearly as many walks (nine) as it had hits (10) for a rather balanced attack. Seven of the nine Rams drove in at least one run.
Friday’s Game
Ashe County 010 00 — 1 2 4
Starmount 459 0X — 18 10 0
PITCHING: Ashe County: Canyon Pennington (1.1 IP, 3 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K); Samuel Tibbs (0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K); Colin Stes (0.1 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 K); Cohen Richardson (1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K). Starmount: Darren Shore (3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K); Nohr Issa (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K). WP: Shore, LP: Pennington.
HITTING: Ashe County: Drew Rowland 1-2 (RBI); Canyon Pennington 1-2 (2B). Starmount: Mason Moxley 3-3 (3B, 2B, 4 RBI); Ryan Kimmer 2-4 (3 RBI); Nohr Issa 2-3 (2 RBI); Luke Kimmer 1-3 (2 RBI); Zack Dezern 1-2 (2 RBI); Jackson Craver 1-3.
Tuesday’s game
Starmount 103 004 301 5 — 17 13 8
Ashe County 135 200 001 4 — 16 14 6
PITCHING: Starmount: Luke Kimmer (3 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K); Ryan Kimmer (6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K); Darren Shore (1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K). Ashe County: Hayden Jenkins (5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K); Cohen Richardson (o.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 K); Brodie Burgess (1.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K); Kaden Burgess (0.2 IP 0 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 1 K); Colin Estes (0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K). WP: Shore, LP: K. Burgess.
HITTING: Starmount: Jackson Craver 3-6 (2B, 2 RBI); Xavier Martin 2-6 (2B); Mason Moxley 2-5 (RBI); Zack Armstrong 2-6 (2B, 3 RBI); Luke Kimmer 2-6 (3 RBI); Zack Dezern 1-6 (RBI); Brady Fann 1-3. Ashe County: Cohen Richardson 2-3 (3B, 2B); Kaden Burgess 2-5 (2B, RBI); Kabel Dillard 2-6 (3 RBI); Colin Estes 2-6 (RBI); Gracen Cline 2-5 (3 RBI); Gage Cheek 2-6.