Win at AHS puts Cavs in BRD race
The Lord Botetourt baseball team jumped into the Blue Ridge District race with wins over Staunton River and Alleghany last week.
The wins put LB at 3-3 in the BRD with two games to play, including a critical game against William Byrd in Daleville. That was scheduled for Tuesday, but it was raining at press time so that game was in jeopardy.
Brett Carroll of LB flips to first for an out in a recent game. Photo by Brian Hoffman
On Friday the Cavs are at Northside, and the Vikings were 4-2 with two to play. If Botetourt can win out the Cavs would be 5-3, Northside would have at least three losses, and Byrd would be the wild card. The Terriers were 4-1, so they would need to lose to LB and someone else for the Cavs to draw even. But Byrd is at Alleghany next Tuesday, and the Mountaineers beat the Terriers in Vinton so anything is possible.
The key win for LB was an 8-3 victory at Alleghany last Friday. Martin Henderlite picked up the win with six strong innings before Jame O’Neill came in for the seventh. Henderlite is 3-1 on the season and has developed into LB’s ace pitcher as a junior.
“He’s stronger and more confident than he was last year,” said LB coach Todd Smith. “He’s really established himself as the ace of the staff.”
Henderlite has become a workhorse for Botetourt. In his last three starts he got a win over Staunton River, no decision in a strong seven inning effort against William Byrd, and the win over Alleghany. He wanted to finish the game but Smith decided to let O’Neill pitch the seventh.
“He would have been over 100 pitches if we had left him in, and that would have been three games in a row over 100,” said Smith. “We felt like it was best for him to take him out. We’re going to need him.”
Henderlite struck out six and walked two, scattering seven hits. He had a seven run lead to work with after two and a half innings, as Garrett Smith’s three run homer in the top of the third blew the game wide open. Botetourt had jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first on Brett Carroll’s two-run homer.
Lincoln Evans and Robert Patten had two hits each for LB, and two homers accounted for the six hits total for the team. Smith’s homer was his team-high fifth of the season and Carroll now has two.
The win improved LB to 12-6 overall. Smith was undecided on who would pitch against Byrd in Tuesday’s scheduled game, and Henderlite will go at Northside Friday.
