Despite a 18-8 road win over the Hoggard Vikings last Thursday, the Fighting Scots varsity baseball team didn’t return from their Wilmington road trip until just after midnight.

“We had the opportunity to finish them early, but we couldn’t close them out because of a few mistakes we ended up making,” said Scotland head coach Jamie Coleman. “A win is a win however, and we need as much momentum as possible looking ahead to the teams we have to face.”

With the victory, the Fighting Scots move to 8-0 in the Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League.

The July 4th holiday gave the Fighting Scots some much needed rest heading into their game against the Vikings, but several of the Scotland players had to end their vacation early to make the journey to Wilmington that day. And while that resulted in a lack of proper warm-ups, it didn’t stop Scotland from exploding out the gate early on in the game.

The Fighting Scots scored six runs in the top of the first inning, and were led on the mound by Blake Bennett and Dylan Ward, who combined for seven solid innings with just six hits and four earned runs allowed between them. Cody Freeman was 3-3 with four RBIs on the evening, and Ward and Brandon Gibson each were perfect from the plate as well, going 2-2 with two RBIs a piece.

Though they threatened to mercy rule the Vikings, a series of fielding errors allowed Hoggard to hang in the game and score four unearned runs in the process. But despite this, Coleman was pleased with his team’s effort considering the circumstances surrounding the game.

“We kicked the ball around defensively a bit which hurt us and allowed them to linger around,” Coleman said. “But some of my guys traveled from Myrtle Beach just to play in this game, and couple that with the fact that we didn’t get any work in on Wednesday and it shows that this team makes no excuses when it comes to winning ball games.”

The Fighting Scots will host West Stanley on Tuesday evening at McCoy Field before traveling to the also-undefeated Richmond Raiders on Wednesday. Scotland will play eight games in the next two weeks, and the top two teams in the Deep South Conference will be selected to go to the Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League playoffs.

Upcoming games for the Fighting Scots:

Monday 7/9: at West Stanley

Tuesday 7/10: West Stanley at home

Wednesday 7/11: at Richmond

Thursday 7/12: North Moore County at home