By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
OXFORD — Riley Quick pitched seven innings of scoreless baseball, and Hewitt-Trussville took advantage of pitching miscues in the fourth inning to salt away Game 1 in the AHSAA 7A state championship baseball series against Central-Phenix City here on Friday, May 20.
Hewitt-Trussville’s Matt Miller at the plate as his teammates — and the Huskies’ student section — look on during Friday’s 6-0 drubbing of Central-Phenix City. (Photo by Bobby Mathews)
Quick struck out five and walked one in the victory.
The Huskies got things started in the bottom of the second when Brooks McRae singled and stole second base to get into scoring position. From there, Brett Moseley ripped a line drive triple into left field drive in McRae. Afterward, McRae credited his faith and his coach
“I’m just looking for a fastball in the zone that I can get my hands to,” McRae said. “Get the barrel on the ball. That’s what they (the coaches) preach.”
Moseley then scored on a wild pitch to stake the Huskies to a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Hewitt-Trussville plated four more runs on two hits as the Huskies stayed patient at the plate and aggressive on the basepaths. Central walked six batters overall and four in the fourth inning. Carson Wideman walked to load the bases, and then Moseley walked to bring in a run to make it 3-0.
From there, Central’s Bryce Sanders went 3-0 to Jack Ollis, and the Red Devils’ coaching staff made a pitching change. It didn’t matter, as Ollis walked two pitches later to plate another run and put the Huskies up 4-0.
Ethan Duhon hit a seeing-eye single that crawled between third base and shortstop to drive in two more runs and cap the scoring at 6-0.
“I thought Riley really established the strike zone,” Mauldin said. “I think he basically controlled the game from the mound. I think Central-Phenix City is a very good hitting team. They put the ball in play against him. Typically he has a lot of strikeouts. They did a good a job of attacking him, but we played good defense behind him. Our infielders played great all night.”
Quick has pitched his last game as a starter for the Huskies, getting the shutout in somewhat dramatic fashion after giving up a single and a double in the top of the seventh inning. With runners threatening, Quick uncorked a wild pitch that hit the brick base of the backstop and came right back to catcher Matt Miller, who tagged the streaking runner out before he could reach the plate.
Quick threw 83 pitches overall and faced 22 batters.
“First of all, I just want to thank Coach Mauldin and my defense behind me for making plays all night,” Quick said. “I knew to just trust my defense and pound the strike zone and I’d be fine. That’s a really good team and they swung the bat really well. Like Coach Mauldin said, I usually have a high number of strikeouts, but they put the ball in play all night, and they’re a really tough team to beat.”
Duhon went 3-for-4 for the Huskies with 2 RBI, while Miller was 1-for-3. McRae went 3-for-3 and scored twice for the Huskies. Carson Wideman was 1-for-2 and Moseley was 2-for-2, scored twice and had 2 RBI.
Hewitt-Trussville will see Central again on Saturday, May 21, when they play the second game in the championship series at Jacksonville State’s Jim Case Stadium at 10 a.m.
