Wood, Campbell top Warriors for baseball victory

By MARK SAWYER | Special to The Winchester Star

Apr 6, 2018

STEPHENS CITY — In baseball it’s not always how many hits you get but more importantly when you get those hits that matters most.

James Wood demonstrated that to perfection Thursday night in their contest with rival Sherando.

Though the Colonels would finish with eight hits on the night it was two clutch two-out singles that produced three runs and led Wood to an important 4-1 early season victory over the Warriors at Sherando High School.

Trent Campbell pitched a complete game for James Wood, allowing just one run on four hits. He struck out five and didn’t walk anyone.

“It’s really early in the season but it’s a big win,” James Wood coach Brent Lockhart said. “We’ve only got 12 [Class 4 Northwestern District] games and the more of those that you can win the better seed you get for the tournament.

“This is a great overall team win. A lot of things went our way tonight. They hit the ball right at people and we were able to take advantage of a couple of their mistakes.”

Through three innings Wood’s Trent Campbell and Sherando’s Michael Usa were locked up in a solid pitching duel with each working on a one-hit shutout.

It appeared Usa would add to that in the fourth when he retired the first two hitters he faced. However he got himself into trouble by walking Colonels rightfielder Tanner George to start the rally.

Kevin Brown then reached on a two-base throwing error to put runners on second and third for Campbell.

Campbell helped himself out by lining an RBI single to the outfield, scoring George for a 1-0 lead.

Campbell made that stand up until his offense could get rolling again in the sixth inning, allowing just one more hit over the next two innings.

“This truly is a great feeling”, Campbell said after the win. “I was thinking ‘I need to get a clutch hit here to get us a run or two.’

“I’ve played the last two seasons and this is the first time we’ve beat them since I’ve played. It’s all about confidence. This definitely lifts our confidence up, we need to keep working and keep winning games.”

Campbell only allowed six Warriors to reach base all night.

Wood (3-3, 2-1 Class 4 Northwestern District) added to the lead in the sixth and gave Campbell some welcome insurance runs.

With one out George again started the rally with a walk. One out later Campbell looped a single to right, putting runners on the corners.

After Campbell stole second Aden Payne lined a single into right center, scoring both George and Campbell for a 3-0 Wood advantage.

Payne would score later in the inning following a single by Tyler Mounts and an outfield error.

“We definitely struggled at the plate the last few games,” Lockhart said. “Pitching and defense have been carrying us. This is the second good offensive game in a row for us.”

Of Wood’s eight hits five of them came from the bottom four guys in their lineup, including two from Campbell, who also drove in a run, scored once and stole a base.

Sherando (1-3, 0-2) finally got to Campbell with a run in the sixth inning.

Nick Mazza led off with single and stole second. He moved to third on a fly to right and one out later scored on Pearce Bucher’s two-out RBI single, trimming the deficit to 4-1.

But that was the last threat the Warriors could muster.

“We got outplayed in every phase of the game,” Sherando coach Pepper Martin said. “Except maybe pitching, I thought Michael pitched well enough to win. We hit some balls right at people but that’s just baseball.

“We need to do a better job of getting on base with no outs. We are just short-circuiting offensively right now. My hats off to Campbell, he was in complete control tonight, and James Wood collectively. I’m not hitting the panic button but we’ve got to put all the phases of the game together.”

In addition to Campbell’s two hits Tyler McBride had two hits and George scored twice. Four different Warriors accounted for their four hits.