Lynchburg… The NRV Tigers 18U travel baseball team finished their summer circuit winning a championship at Liberty University. The championship game saw the Tigers defeat NRV Post 59 6-5 as Caleb Pritchard single in two runs in the seventh to capture the title. Carter Plunkett got the mound win as he tossed four innings striking out two and gave up just two earned runs. Pritchard finished the game going four-for-four scored one run and knocked in two.

The Tigers got the weekend started by beating Roanoke Rails 7-0 behind the pitching of Taylor Newcome. He struck out 10 going five innings. Plunkett had three RBI. They would beat Short Pump Bandits 8-3 Saturday afternoon, as Andrew Shaffner pitched five innings. He struck out four, walked two. He gave up one run on four hits. Pritchard, Shawn Campbell, Leighton Dunford, and Punky Foster led the hit attack.

Then on Sunday, the Tigers beat the Rebels 7-6 as Caleb Pritchard hit a two-run walk-off triple to back the pitching of Sean Gibbons. They would then beat the West Virginia Red Devils 6-5 when Nathan Funk hit a two-run double in the sixth to propel the Tigers into the championship game against NRV Post 59.

The weekend saw Pritchard knock in nine runs to lead the Tigers. He was followed by Campbell and Plunkett both had seven RBI each. Pritchard, Andrew Neighbors, Nathan Funk, and Campbell had seven hits each. Funk led the Tigers with six runs scored. Campbell scored four times as Pritchard, Cam Upton and Shaffner three runs each.

Tiger head coach Todd Davis remarked, ” What a weekend. We win three games by one run and those came in our last at-bat. Got great pitching and timely hitting. What a team effort all weekend.”

The Tigers with their five wins finished the summer with a record of 16-4-1. They won their last eight games in a row and 11 of their last 12.