On Tuesday, March 19, the Archie Williams varsity baseball team cruised their way to a win at their home nest against the Terra Linda High School Trojans. The Falcons held the Trojans to a scoreless seven innings led by senior pitcher Sam Black, who ended the night with 10 strikeouts and allowed only four hits. The Falcons offense flew six runs home to prevail 6-0 over the Trojans.
“Sam, on the mound, [has] been a bright spot throughout the season… He’s really changed things around and been a good consistent presence for us on the mound, second complete game in the last two starts. You really can’t ask more from him,” said head coach Tyler Weeks.
The Falcons held the Trojans to a quiet first inning and got their offense kick-started with a walk and a single for senior team captain Gilly Roth. A sacrifice fly allowed runners to advance, and a double RBI single by senior team captain Jackson Oliver-Roa gave Archie Wiliams an early 2-0 lead.
“Jackson [was instrumental], with a timely first inning hit, first pitch curveball, with guys on second and third to get those early innings going, especially against teams like this that you wanna score against early,” Weeks said.
Sam pitched the Falcons through the third, making the Trojans go scoreless yet again. The Falcons couldn’t capitalize on a late runner on third and were left stranded going into the fourth inning.
“The pitching was on today. Sam was hitting all his spots, super competitive, and it allowed us to shut down their offense,” Gilly said.
The Trojans failed to puncture the Falcon’s defense again in the fourth. With two early singles and a walk, the Falcons created a bases-loaded opportunity for junior Jack Evans to bat one run in with an infield hit. With well-placed aggressive baserunning, Weeks managed to sneak junior Arlo Maury in for another run, widening the gap 4-0.
The Trojans turned up empty-handed yet again at the start of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Archie Williams added to their lead with an early walk and a single allowing for a sacrifice groundout. Continued aggressive baserunning allowed the Falcons to steal three bags, and another sacrifice groundout stretched their lead to 6-0.
“Our ability to put the ball in play, not necessarily [to] get big hits, but [to] get on base when we needed to [allowed us to] get those ugly runs in,” Sam said.
In a strong defensive hold, Sam secured another two quick K’s and a flyout to end the top of the seventh. The Falcons went down two outs early on, then got caught stealing second going into the final inning.
Terra Linda failed to produce yet again under Archie Williams relief pitcher junior Leo Hendricks, ending the game with a clean shutout for the Falcons 6-0. The Falcons now advance to 3-2 in the MCAL league and hope to keep their momentum going into their next MCAL game against the Trojans, Friday, March 22.
“We got Terra Linda again on Friday. We are just going to try and keep a loose, relaxed tempo and feel going. A lot of guys feel that pressure because it’s their senior season, but I think as long as we are relaxed things will go well. We showed that against Piedmont and here,” Weeks said.
