By Jim Lisk, Editor
Sunday, July 5, 2009 — On an absolutely gorgeous night for baseball, Stanly County’s first eight men all reached and scored in the bottom of the first as Post 76 handed Lexington-Davidson a 12-8 loss in the opening playoff game on Friday night.
Adrian Shepherd went five dominating innings to get the win and struck out 10, including the first eight outs recorded.
Shepherd also surrendered solo homers in the first and second to left-hand hitting first baseman Zack Burkhardt and right-hand hitting second baseman Barrett Clodfelter.
After giving up three runs in the fifth, Jacob Beck relieved Shepherd and pitched three shutout innings before succumbing to control problems in the ninth.
After Beck loaded bases in the ninth on three straight, one-out walks and Stanly County leading 12-6, Bradley Love relieved and got a three-pitch strike out of Clodfelter, who had driven a long homer to left-center in the second inning.
But Lexington-scored two runs when Post 76 first baseman Colten Burris made a diving stop of a hot grounder in the hole, then threw from his knees and wide of the bag.
But Love induced a slow roller to Burris and took the throw for the final out and a 12-8 win and a 1-0 lead in the best 3-of-5.
The two teams played at Lexington on Saturday night and return to Don Montgomery Park for game three on Sunday night.
Offensively, Post 76 exploded for eight first inning runs with the top two hitters in the lineup, Ryan Poplin and Jordan Sells each reaching on bloop singles. After both runners moved up on a wild pitch, Corey Dick roped a single to right-center to score both Poplin and Sells.
Colten Burris followed with a line drive single to center and Alex Robichaud walked to load the bases. Tyler Eudy then was hit by a pitch to score Dick and Love drew a walk to score Burris and bring third baseman Brett Brinson to the plate.
On a 3-2 pitch, Brinson drove the ball over the left-field fence and off the scoreboard for a grand-slam home run and an 8-1 lead.
In the Stanly County second, Dick singled to lead-off the inning and after Burris lined out to center, Robichaud blasted a drive over the right-center field fence for a two-run homer and a 10-2 lead.
The home run barrage continued in the third inning when Dick followed a one-out double by Sells with a towering drive to straight away center to give Post 76 a 12-2 lead.
On the night, Dick led all Post 76 batters with 3-5 and four RBIs while Sells, Burris, and Brinson each had two hits.
