Decatur has Wright stuff, tops Colonels

SALISBURY — He lost his no-hit bid with two outs in the sixth inning.

Two batters later, he lost his shot for a shutout.

But Stephen Decatur High senior Matt Wright had been dominant for too long, and his offense had given him a lead that proved too much to overcome Wednesday night, as the Seahawks defeated Colonel Richardson, 13-4, for their second Bayside Conference championship in three years at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.

“He threw really well,” Colonel Richardson head coach Garrett Nepert said of Wright, who is headed to Division II Mars Hill (North Carolina) University. “Commanded the zone. Threw multiple pitches. He did excellent.”

As did Colonel Richardson starting pitcher Daniel Hesson. The senior left-hander bound for Salisbury University gave up A.J. Kolb’s leadoff double in the first inning and little else until Ryder Swanson’s double to leadoff the fourth ended his day on the mound.

“He did excellent,” Nepert said of Hesson, who gave up one run and two hits, struck out five, walked three and hit one batter.

After yielding Kolb’s leadoff double in the first, Hesson recorded back-to-back strikeouts then walked Nate Brozonski. Kolb stole third base but was stranded, as Hesson induced Swanson’s inning-ending fly-out.

Hesson worked out of another jam in the second. After issuing consecutive one-out walks to Johnny Hobgood and Eric Braica, Hesson got a called third strike on Caden Shockley. Both runners advanced on a passed ball during Shockley’s at-bat, but again Hesson kept the Seahawks (17-2) off the board, getting Kolb to ground out to third to end the inning.

Hesson’s easiest inning was the third. Waylon Hobgood was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, but was thrown out trying to steal second by catcher Cameron Todd. Lukas Loring then hit a sinking line drive that Colonel right fielder Derrick Mitchell made a nice diving catch on for the second out. Hesson fanned Brozonski to end the inning, then gave up Swanson’s leadoff double in the fourth, bringing on reliever Jack Walls. Hesson took over at first base.

“We can’t go into Saturday without our ace,” said Nepert, whose 17-2 team is scheduled to host either Cambridge-South Dorchester or Kent County on Saturday in a Class 1A East Region I semifinal. “This is important. Obviously a lot of people here. Lot of pride in this game. But at the end of the day, you know, this weekend, on forward.”

Jackson Cheung moved Swanson to third with a sacrifice bunt. Walls walked Johnny Hobgood, then tried picking off Hobgood at first. Swanson broke for home, Hesson’s throw from first, for a 1-0 Decatur lead.

Decatur busted the game open in the top of the fifth, scoring eight runs on five hits. Walls surrendered a two-run single to Lukas Loring and a two-run double to Swanson, giving the Seahawks a 5-0 lead.

Kenton Robbins took over for Walls. Decatur extended its lead to 7-0 against the right-hander, who after four batters was relieved by Jordan Regulski. Colonel’s junior right-hander got Kolb to bounce into a 1-2-3 double play for the inning’s first outs, then yielded Waylon Hobgood’s two-run single to right for a 9-0 Decatur lead.

“We’ve had some struggles laying off pitches a little bit high in the zone,” Decatur head coach Rich Ferro said. “And we’re not high-ball hitters. We have to live down. We finally did that and then went with the ball the other way.

“And then we took bags,” Ferro said of his team’s five stolen bases. “We were trying to time him out on the mound and we got runners in motion. And we bunted successfully. We played pretty good baseball today.”

The Seahawks also got a pretty outstanding performance from Wright (4-0).

The left-hander, who walked two, carried a no-hitter into the sixth, when he notched his seventh and eighth strikeouts to start the inning. Regulski then hit a rocket off Cheung at third base that was ruled a hit. Though some in the crowd disagreed with the ruling, Hesson followed with a single to left. Brayden Dadds then hit a comebacker to the mound. Wright bobbled the ball briefly then made a low throw to first that first baseman Brozonski couldn’t dig out. Regulski scored on the play, making it 9-1, and bringing on reliever Caleb Loring.

“He was really, really good. That’s the best way to put it,” Ferro said of Wright. “When he’s able to command the zone and expand a little bit with is two-seam (fastball), it makes it really difficult on right-hand batters because it takes off like crazy.

“Matt was lights out,” Ferro added. “It took us a couple innings to get going. He kept us in the ballgame and that was the biggest thing. He gave us a shot to be competitive today. And then the offense came alive and he settled back in. Had a little hiccup in the fifth. We wanted to extend him to about 80, 85 (pitches) and that’s about where he ended up.”

Manny Wallace greeted Caleb Loring with a single to center that scored courtesy runner Preston Rickwood. Caleb Rouser singled into shallow right field, plating Dadds to make it 9-3. Gavin Whitby then hit a bad-hop single that scored Wallace, trimming the Decatur lead to five. But Caleb Loring got Mitchell to bounce out to end the inning.

“We put up a fight,” Nepert said. “I would have liked to have seen it a little bit earlier in the game. I thought we were kind of flat. But if we’re going to have that, today’s the day and not Saturday.”

Decatur tacked on four more runs in the top of the seventh. Brozonski hit a two-run single, Swanson lined an RBI double to left, and Cheung produced a run-scoring groundout.

Swanson finished 3 for 4 with three RBIs for Decatur. Waylon Hobgood (2 for 3) Lukas Loring (1 for 5) and Brozonski (1 for 3) each drove in two runs. Kolb also had two hits for the Seahawks, who finished with 10. Colonel had five hits.

SOFTBALLMARDELA 4, NORTH DORCHESTER 0SALISBURY — Hayden Adkins and Ava Twilley combined for a two-hit shutout Wednesday, as the Warriors blanked the Eagles at Salisbury University for their second straight Bayside Conference championship.

Adkins yielded two hits over four innings, striking out four and walking two. Twilley, who recorded her 300th career strikeout, pitched three scoreless innings, fanning five and walking one.

Twilley was 2 for 4 with two RBIs, Lexie Guy was 2 for 4 with an RBI, and Camryn Dorr was 2 for 4 for Mardela.

Emilee Cohee and Maddie Nagel each had one hit for North Dorchester.