Nansemond River wins first district championship

Nansemond River won its first Southeastern District Tournament championship on the baseball diamond with a 15-10 win over top-seeded Great Bridge Thursday night at Nansemond River.

The Warriors have traditionally had a winning baseball program, including through most of the program’s 15 years in Group AAA and the Southeastern District. The semifinal win over Western Branch on Wednesday earned the Warriors (18-6) their first regional tournament berth in six years. The championship win over the Wildcats gives the Warriors permanent hardware to display.

“It’s amazing,” said senior pitcher/second baseman Josh Howard. “To be able to put up the first banner for baseball, it’s great. We wanted to leave with a bang.”

The final game was mostly a Warrior rout thanks to two huge innings at the plate. Nansemond River posted five runs before the Wildcats got to come to bat.

It was 2-0 Warriors before Great Bridge recorded an out as three of the first four NR batters, Tyler Brown, Brandon Lowe and Zach Vann hit singles. Lowe’s hit scored Brown and Vann’s hit scored Howard who had reached with a walk.

The Warrior offense kept coming as Kyle Moore’s sacrifice fly scored a run, Travis Johnson’s single drove in a run and Hayden Champigny’s double deep into the leftfield corner scored Johnson for a 5-0 lead.

With lots of help right away, Brown took the mound for the Warriors less than 24 hours after pitching the last two innings of Wednesday’s win against Western Branch.

“Tyler wanted to start. He’s been one of our horses all year,” said Nansemond River head coach Mark Stuffel. “He asked me last night if he could have the ball and he’s earned it.”

The Wildcats scored three runs in the first against Brown. Brown held Great Bridge through the next three innings though.

NR’s offense exploded again in the fourth and mostly while the Wildcats were one out away from getting out of the inning and keeping the game close.

Ryan O’Hara reached third on a dropped fly deep into right-centerfield and Blake Eure’s liner up the middle scored O’Hara with one out. A grounder and force out at second made two outs.

Howard singled and Lowe walked to load the bases. Vann worked a walk for an RBI and a 7-3 NR lead. Moore flared a single into shallow rightfield for two RBI.

Johnson cleared the bases with the big blast of the two-out rally, driving a shot to the scoreboard in leftfield for a three-run homer, his fourth home run of the season.

Great Bridge came back with four runs in the fifth, forcing Brown from the mound.

Howard hit a solo home run, nailing the light pole in left-center for his fifth homer of the season, leading off the Warrior sixth. The Warriors took advantage of two walks and Moore singled into center for two RBI, giving him five in all on the night, for a 15-7 NR lead.

Trevor Riggs and Howard came on from the bullpen to take care of the last two innings. A lineout to O’Hara in straightaway center was the final, district-winning out.

“We knew we could do it. We knew we had the confidence coming into the game that we could hit anyone they threw,” Howard said.

Both sides were thin in the pitching category at the end of a busy week. Great Bridge went through seven pitchers on the night.

“We were out here from December to the start of the season working in the bullpen, long tossing. I wasn’t worried about what I had in the tank. I was just thinking about locating my pitches,” Brown said.

Howard, Champigny, Dylan Roach and Will Hunter are the four seniors on the Warrior roster.

“Without a doubt the seniors have been leaders for us all year,” Stuffel said. “Their leadership’s been unbelievable and that’s something that’s been lacking a little in the past. Hopefully, they’ll continue to lead us.”

Nansemond River advances into the eight-team Eastern Region Tournament. The Warriors face Peninsula District season champion Woodside on Monday at 7 p.m. at Old Dominion.