Baseball falls to William Byrd despite no-hitter

By Ben Byrnes
Media General News Service
Published: May 28, 2008

While many people were grilling out and enjoying their day off, the Amherst Lancers were working to try and move into the second round of Regional III Seminole baseball tournament.

They traveled to Vinton on Monday to take on the William Byrd Terriers. Amherst pitcher, senior, Jacob Sale, struggled through the first few batters in the bottom of the first. With bases loaded, he walked junior Jon Michael Zimmerman as senior Brandon Garnett scored for the Terriers.

Designated hitter, freshman, William Sligh, brought in the lone run for Amherst who lost 2-1.

During the top of the second, Sligh hit down the third-base line and scored first. He made it to second after a bunt from sophomore Dakota Stinnett.

Sligh stole third after Terriers pitcher, senior Travis Coffman, struck out Amherst senior D.J. Jones.

The next batter, Amherst senior Ashton Paige hit toward the center outfield and got on first as Sligh scored home, evening up the score.

The Terriers responded in the third inning with another run.

Sale walked two of the six batters for the inning, including the first batter. After getting on first, Terriers sophomore Derrick Palmer stole second on the next batter.

Palmer got to third after a flyball to center from Terriers junior Bradley Maddox. The next hitter, Amherst catcher, freshman, Kirby Anderson, lost control of the pitch and Palmer scored home, making the game 2-1 in William Byrd’s favor.

At the bottom of the fourth, Amherst switched pitchers from Sale to senior Ashton Paige.

Between Paige and Sale, the game was a no-hitter against the Terriers.

Amherst ended the game with seven hits and two errors.

William Byrd finished with no hits and two errors. William Byrd advances to play Waynesboro in the second round of Regional III Seminole game.

Amherst coach, Mike Padgett was disappointed with the end result considering the game was a no-hitter.

“It’s a tough pill for me to swallow. You go out and no-hit a team and you lose 2-1. At the same time, that’s baseball, anything can happen. We played well enough to win,” Padgett said.