NEWPORT NEWS – Nansemond River reached the Class 5 Region B baseball tournament as the No. 6 and final seed thanks to the fifth tie-breaker – a higher winning percentage against Class 5 schools than Woodside. The Warriors will begin the Class 5 state tournament at home as region champs.
The Warriors completed their three-game sweep of the region tournament with a 4-2 win over No. 4 Gloucester in nine innings on Friday at War Memorial Stadium. The Dukes (17-4) will join the Warriors (15-8) – who host First Colonial in the state quarterfinals on Tuesday – in the state tournament, but will play their quarterfinal on the road Tuesday at Cox.
Sly Clarke was the hero for the Warriors. He had two hits and three RBIs, and his two-run single to center field in the top of the ninth inning gave the Warriors their winning runs.
“It was great,” Clarke said of his game-winning hit. “Everything I do is for my team.”
The game was scoreless until the seventh inning as Warriors starting pitcher Cam Boswell and Dukes hurler Camden Richardson were brilliant. Boswell allowed just one hit and struck out seven over the first six innings, while Richardson also allowed only a hit during that span.
“Our pitcher had a pretty good day, but the reality is we weren’t putting the ball in play enough,” Gloucester coach Gus Morande said.
The tone changed in the top of the seventh, when Nansemond River’s Caden Mintz doubled to the right field fence with one out. Clarke drove him in with a two-out single, advancing to third on an outfield error by the Dukes. Clarke scored to make it 2-0 when Jason Aguilar, who walked, stayed alive long enough in a rundown after breaking from first for Clarke to run home.
The Dukes’ bats finally came to life in the bottom of the seventh and they scored twice to tie the score at 2-2. Hank Hardaway began the inning with a walk and moved to second on Austin Shackelford’s single that ended Boswell’s afternoon on the mound. Braden Hudgins scored them both with his two-out two-run single up the middle that sent the game into extra innings.
Richardson exited after eight innings and Nansemond River was able to get to the Dukes’ two relievers. Boswell walked to begin the top of the ninth, before Aden Judge was hit by a pitch with one out. Clarke followed with his single to give the Warriors a two-run lead.
Reliever William Bennett ended a solid relief stint of 22/3 innings, allowing two hits but no runs, as the Warriors celebrated a region title after almost not even making the tournament.
“It feels great to be playing at home (in the state quarters),” Clarke said. “It will give us a different type of energy.
“We’ve had a lot of controversy this year but we’ve kept fighting and we will continue to fight.”
