Salem…The fall baseball schedule for the NRV 17U Tigers got off to a great start this past weekend as they won the USSSA Tournament that was held at Patrick Henry High School and at Kiwanis Filed in Salem. On Saturday the Tigers beat the Patrick Henry Cardinals 16-4. Connor Lewis got the mound win as he went 3.0 innings striking out two and surrendering four runs. The second game on Saturday saw the Tigers fall behind early 5-0. They made it close but came out on the short end of a 5-4 decision to the Carroll Co. Cavaliers . Trey Hodson took the loss as he went 4.0 innings giving up five runs but only two of them were earned. The Tigers committed a couple of huge errors that they couldn’t overcome.
Sunday the Tigers played at Kiwanis Field as they got an outstanding pitching effort from PK Kepler. He tossed a complete game, 7.0 innings, strucking out 14 as they beat the Virginia Tigers 2-0 in real pitching duel. Kepler helped himself as he knocked in one run and also scored one. The win meant the Tigers advanced to the championship against Carroll Co. They would get a measure of revenge as they defeated Carroll Co. 16-6. Pulaski Co. pitcher Hunter Shrewsbury picked up the win as he went three innings. He gave up four runs and struck out two in the win. Wyatt Hage and Caleb Wetzel finished the game on the mound for the victorious Tigers. Kepler went four for four at the plate as he scored three runs and had three RBIs. Seven different players had RBIs and nine had at least one run scored.
Head coach Todd Davis remarked, ”We hit the ball real well in the championship game. We got great effort from PK (Kepler) in the first game today to help get us here. We wanted to play Carroll again after Saturday’s game with them.”
For the weekend the Tigers got contributions from all of their players. Kepler led the way as he went 6 for 10 hitting, scored eight runs and five RBIs. Caleb Franklin was 4 for 6 with five RBIs. Austin Atkins went 3 for 9 with four runs and 3 RBIs. Pulaski Co. Cougar players Hunter Shrewsbury and Bailey Ayers were a combined 5 for 16 with six runs scored and knocked in five.
The Tigers will be back in action September 22-24 in Richmond, Va. It is a max exposure weekend for the traveling Tigers.