Squaring off against UNC Greensboro signee Nate Traugh, Albemarle knew they were up against a big time arm. A third inning 2-run homer from the Riverbend senior put the Patriots in a tough spot. When it looked like the Patriots might get something going in the fifth, Traugh’s defense turned a double play to get him out of the potential jam. The next time around, the Patriots made the most of their at-bats starting with a Timmy Aker leadoff double that finished with 3-runs on the board to fuel a 5-3 victory.
“We had a great frame of mind after the game last night against North Stafford,” said Albemarle coach Jimmy Bibb. The Patriots thought they had a walkoff in their hands on a shot from Lee Carneal but it was caught at the fence on a diving play by Chris Gallet to end the game. “I told them that they needed to come out and play thinking that they were going win. Last night we were nervous. Toward the end of last night I saw us get our confidence at the end and I think it carried over here. Even when we were down, we didn’t give up and kept putting the ball in play.”
Down 3-2, Aker put one in the gap to start the bottom of the sixth. After a sacrifice bunt from Joe Burris, Aker was plated on a ball hit by Kyle Vidano where the Riverbend defense wound up throwing high to home trying to go after the tying run. Vidano did not have to wait long to reach home himself when Zach Evans cranked a double on a full count in the very next at-bat.
“I knew that I was going to get an outside fastball when I got the second strike on me,” Evans said. “I’ve been really working on my 2-strike swing with Coach Bibb talking to us about shortening the swing and spreading our feet. That’s exactly what I did, it was an outside fastball and I stayed on it and drove it to the gap.”
For good measure, Benny Baranik brought in Vidano on an error to make it 5-3.
After Kyle Ripley threw the first five innings, Austin Turner came on in relief in the sixth and sat down the side in the seventh to wrap up the win, handing Traugh his first loss in 13 starts.
Albemarle went up 1-0 in the bottom of the second on a single from Vidano followed by a ground ball out, and an RBI single from Ripley. But in the top of the third Traugh went deep on a shot with leadoff hitter Clay Massie on base after a walk to make it 2-1.
The Patriots tied the game in the fourth on back-to-back singles from Burris and Vidano and a sacrifice fly from Ripley.
Ripley finished with four strike outs, three hits and one walk. Turner gave up no hits or walks and fanned to batters.
“I was proud of Kyle to come out in this heat and give us five good innings,” Bibb said. “And then Austin, he was great and picked up his fifth win on his 18th birthday.”
Albemarle (13-4, 9-4 Commonwealth District) gets a break until Tuesday when it hosts Mountain View for its senior night at 6 p.m.
