Cavaliers win season opener

Published 1:54 pm Thursday, February 15, 2018

By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

It was a winning start for the Callaway Cavaliers, who opened a new baseball season with a 10-0 home win over Carver on Wednesday.

Senior Chandler Lott, who’ll be an anchor of the pitching staff this season, got the start and threw four scoreless innings, and Austin Barber worked the fifth and final inning.

Lott and Barber combined to throw a five-inning no-hitter, and they had 10 strikeouts between them.

The Cavaliers were clinging to a 1-0 lead when they pushed three runs across in the third inning, and they added four more runs in the fourth to build an 8-0 lead.

Callaway added two more runs in the fifth inning to bring the 10-run mercy rule into play.

Callaway will be back home today against Manchester, with first pitch set for 5:30 p.m.

These early-season games will give head coach Dusty Hubbard an opportunity to get a feel for his team, and see different combinations in the field, and in the lineup.

“There are still a lot of positions we don’t know about,” Hubbard said. “There are some guys we’ll have to see (today) play a little more, and we played some guys today. You throw them out there in game one and see what you’ve got and go from there.”

One player who Hubbard has no questions about is Lott, who was a standout pitcher in his debut season at Callaway.

Lott overmatched Carver, throwing four hitless innings while striking out eight.

“We were going to get him under 65 (pitches), and I think he ended up with 55,” Hubbard said. “We really didn’t know who would go in next. The score of the game kind of determined that. We threw Barber second and Walt (Stewart) was going to come in next.”

Barber walked the leadoff hitter in the fifth, but he struck out the next two batters before ending the inning with a pickoff.

The Cavaliers scored the game’s first run in the first inning without a hit.

Leadoff hitter Drake Wade walked and stole second before scoring on a Lott sacrifice fly.

In the third inning, Buster Perry was hit by a pitch with one out, and he stole second before scoring on a Wade base hit.

Wade scored on a Trent Sheppard error and Lott’s RBI groundout gave Callaway a 4-0 lead.

The Cavaliers broke it open with four runs in the fourth inning.

Braelin Mitchell led off with a double, and he scored on a Wesley Marchman groundout.

With the bases loaded, Sheppard and Lott had back-to-back walks to put the Cavaliers on top 8-0.

In the fifth inning, Marchman led off with a double over the left fielder’s head, and pinch-runner Chase Payne scored on a wild pitch.

Three batters later, Stewart ended the game with an RBI groundout.