Warriors gain momentum
Published 8:03 pm Saturday, May 2, 2015
With the postseason only three weeks off, Nansemond River High School’s baseball team seems to be putting together a positive trend.
The Warriors topped visiting Denbigh High School 6-0 on Tuesday and dealt host Lakeland High School a 13-0 loss on Monday.
“We pitched extremely well in both games,” Nansemond River coach Mark Stuffel said. “Mike Blanchard threw four innings against Lakeland and only gave up one hit, and then Robert (Fitzwater) threw a complete game against Denbigh and had 11 strikeouts.”
Blanchard, a junior, improved to 3-1 on the mound on Monday, and Fitzwater, a senior, improved to 4-1 on Tuesday.
“I think in the two games we might have had one walk,” Stuffel said. “I think Blanchard had a walk, and Robert didn’t have a walk.”
When it comes to hits or errors driving the Warriors’ success on the scoreboard, the coach said that this past week it was “a lot of both.”
“Against Lakeland, we did not hit very well,” he said, noting his players ended up bunting about a dozen times in a row because they just kept popping the ball up otherwise.
Nansemond River ended up with eight hits to the Cavaliers’ one but also benefited from Lakeland’s seven errors.
Stuffel said his team swung the bats well the next day against Denbigh.
Senior Kieton Rivers went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple as the Warriors out-hit the Patriots 8-5.
“Corey Fago had a good week,” Stuffel said, noting the junior had a hit against Denbigh and two hits against the Cavaliers.
Sophomore Jarret Henderson also had two hits against Lakeland.
“Our defense has been really good,” Stuffel said. “We had no errors this week, defensively.”
Nansemond River holds a 9-4 record after an 0-2 start. The Warriors are 2-1 in the Ironclad Conference after dropping their first game.
Seven regular season games, all against conference opponents, remain before the conference tournament.
At this point in the season, “I think we’re starting to come around,” Stuffel said. Defensively, the Warriors have been solid all year, “but I think the bats are really starting to come around.”
Early in the season, he was making significant changes to the lineup, just looking for anything that would help the team score runs.
“I don’t feel like I’m searching for stuff anymore,” Stuffel said.
After its game against Heritage High School was rained out on Friday, Nansemond River will visit the Hurricanes on Monday, then Phoebus High School on Tuesday.