Chili Peppers rout HiToms
Jul. 7—HIGH POINT — From the very start, the HiToms were off their game.
High Point-Thomasville fell behind five runs in the top of the first inning, eventually trailed by double digits and lost 14-2 in eight innings against the Tri-City Chili Peppers in its final Conxt Series game of the season Thursday in Coastal Plain League baseball at Truist Point.
"I felt like we stayed in the locker room — we never showed up," HiToms coach Sean Stevens said. "We didn't really have that compete tool. It's just really unfortunate to see."
High Point-Thomasville never really got going — on the mound it walked 13, hit three batters and tallied six wild pitches; at the plate it mustered just five hits while the Chili Peppers finished with 11. The HiToms scratched across two runs in the middle innings to keep the slightest glimmer alive but finally succumbed to the run rule in the eighth.
"Here's the neat thing about college baseball," Stevens said. "It doesn't matter if you're a Power 5 guy, it doesn't matter if you're a mid-major guy. I don't care if you're a D2 arm — we had a D3 guy shove it up our (backside) tonight.
"He did his job. We had a Power 5 arm that really struggled out of the gate. He couldn't command the zone. And when you start walking hitters against good lineups, you make them great lineups very quickly."
Joe Ariola, a rising sophomore at Wake Forest, took the loss in two innings. To his credit, he pitched a 1-2-3 second inning. But the first-inning outburst in which Tri-City sent nine batters to the plate was tough to overcome. A string of relief pitchers didn't have much more success in his stead.
Former HiTom Eli Weisner went 4 for 4 with a double and an RBI for the Chili Peppers. Cole Jenkins also had two hits and three RBIs while Cole Garrett had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs. Alex Christie also homered and drove in two. Starting pitcher Drew Ramos got the win in 4 2/3 innings.
Jake Koonin, who doubled, and Dylan Lewis each had a hit and scored a run for the HiToms (10-16 overall, 2-2 second half). Jack Spyke added a sacrifice fly as High Point-Thomasville — in its final game of five matchups at the downtown ballpark this season — mounted a small rally in the fifth, scoring two runs to inch within 6-2.
But it simply couldn't keep pace with Tri-City (14-11, 2-0).
With less than 20 games remaining in the regular season and their window to make something happen narrowing, the HiToms, coming off a positive win Tuesday against Wilmington on the Fourth of July, aim to rebound Friday at Martinsville and Saturday at Macon before returning home Monday against Holly Springs.
"I'm a realist," Stevens said. "Baseball will teach you life lessons. And if you're a young man in our dugout right now, you've got to find that deep-down hunger, that fire to come back and fight, scratch and claw. Regardless of what the AB looks like, regardless of who you're competing against, regardless of where you're playing."
mlindsay@hpenews.com — @HPEmichael
