Warriors sloppy but victorious
Published 10:43 pm Wednesday, April 2, 2014
The Nansemond River High School baseball team did not showcase its most efficient performance on Tuesday, but it did enough to defeat visiting Oscar Smith High School, 5-2.
“It was just kind of an ugly game,” Warriors head coach Mark Stuffel said. “We didn’t run bases well.”
He also said his team could have racked up more hits against the Tigers’ pitcher, but the Warriors were not patient enough to sit back and wait for the opportunities to come to them.
Nansemond River did have some notable offensive success within the context of its eight hits, though.
Junior Kieton Rivers went 3-for-3 on the night, including a solo home run.
Radford University commit Trevor Riggs continued his hit parade as a senior, recording another solo homer, his third home run of the four-game-old season.
When asked if he expected this torrid start from Riggs, Stuffel quickly replied that he did.
“He’s a unique player,” the coach said of Riggs. “We have high expectations for him.”
Riggs ended up 1-for-3 on Tuesday, with two runs batted in.
Stuffel noted his homer could have been a two-run shot, but a previous runner got tagged out after some poor base-running.
But the coach was not planning to dwell too much on those errors.
“We’ve been pretty good (with base-running), so I’m going to write it off as a bad night,” he said.
Warriors freshman Jarred Johnson went 2-for-3. Though sophomore Dion Jordan did not produce many statistics, Stuffel said he swung the bat well.
“He led the game off with a double and then lined out to center field,” Stuffel said.
Defensively, Nansemond River only allowed two hits from the Tigers.
Stuffel did not think Tuesday’s performance was junior pitcher Ethan Woodruff’s best, but said he did what he needed to recover from mistakes.
“He worked his way out of the all the situations he put himself in,” Stuffel said. “He was definitely successful, but he definitely could have been better.”
The game made him 1-0 on the mound, while senior Hunter Kiessling achieved his first save.
Nansemond River (4-0, 1-0) visited King’s Fork High School (2-2, 1-0) on Wednesday evening with sophomore Matt Holt scheduled to pitch for the Warriors.
Speaking on Tuesday, Stuffel, not knowing what potential the Bulldogs had this year, said, “I have no clue what to expect tomorrow.”
The Warriors host Hickory High School on Friday.