WILMINGTON — Inconsistent pitching hurt Scotland’s baseball team as the Fighting Scots kicked off their season with a pair of losses on Saturday.
Scotland lost 14-5 at Wilmington Ashley on Saturday morning. The Scots then travelled to Laney High School, where they lost 7-5.
The Scots were originally scheduled to host Ashley on Friday night, but rain caused the game to be rescheduled to the next morning.
“It’s definitely a long day,” said Chad Hill, Scotland’s head coach. “I thought we had some good approaches at the plate. I thought we played good defense. It all goes on the bump, and we have to get better right there.”
Ashley 14, Scotland 5
The Fighting Scots jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but the Screaming Eagles scored six runs in the opening frame to take control of a game that took three hours to complete.
Ashley’s Ashton Evans, the team’s starting pitcher, got the Eagles started with an RBI double against Scotland starter Michael Johnson in the first inning. Later in the inning, Barrett Swails drew a walk to plate Ashley’s second run of the day.
Johnson’s time on the mound came to an end after hitting Ashley’s Trent Eason with a pitch in a bases-loaded jam. Austin Norton took over on the mound with the score tied at 3-all.
The pitching change didn’t slow down the Eagles. R.J. Hunt hit an RBI single and Brandon Jernigan drew a walk with the bases loaded to increase Ashley’s lead to 5-3. The Scots managed to tag a runner out at home plate after fielding a ground ball with the bases still loaded, but the visitors dealt another costly free pass before the end of the inning. Ashley’s Drew Tyndall drew a bases-loaded walk to give Ashley a 6-3 lead at the conclusion of the first frame.
The Scots tacked on another run against Evans in the second inning. A groundout by Tyler Faulk gave at runner at third base enough time to cross the plate, making the score 6-4 in favor of the Eagles.
An RBI single by Hunt gave the hosts a 7-4 lead in the bottom of the second inning. The Eagles piled on four more runs in the third inning with the help of two bases-loaded walks, a passed ball and a two-run double off the bat of Jernigan.
Scotland scored its final run of the game on an RBI infield single by Zac Phillips in the fourth inning. The Eagles scored another run on a passed ball in the fourth inning, and they went on to make the score 13-5 with an RBI single by Rocco Farmintino in the bottom of the fifth frame. A double play helped the Scots get out of the inning before the Eagles could bring the 10-run rule into play.
Noah Dail drove in Ashley’s final run with an RBI single in the sixth inning.
Laney 7, Scotland 5
Scotland got off to another hot start in its second game of the day. The Scots used an RBI double by Zac Phillips and a passed ball to take a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Laney scored an early run against Scotland starter Lane Roberson, but Austin Norton launched a home run to increase the Scots’ lead to 4-1 in the third inning.
“I was thinking line drive, and it just bounced off the bat,” said Norton, a senior infielder and pitcher.
The Scots loaded the bases later in the inning against Laney starter Jared Peterson, but the pitcher got out of the jam with a strikeout.
An RBI extra-base hit helped Laney shrink its deficit to two runs in the bottom of the third, and an error by the Scots allowed another Buccaneer to score later in the inning.
Scotland’s Jackson Purcell hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth, although he was tagged while trying to extend it to a double. The run gave the Scots a 5-3 lead.
Scotland reliever Parker Byrd had neutralized the Buccaneers in his first two innings of work, but Laney wasn’t fooled by the freshman in the sixth inning. After a triple by Garrett Wolff, Laney’s Tobey Stone hit a two-run homer to tie the score at 5-all, and a triple by Chris Conrady helped the Buccaneers take the lead for good.
