THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 10, 1995 TAG: 9505100599
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Western Branch pitcher Matt Hemmis wanted to go the distance. But his tiring arm wouldn't let him finish.
Still, his 6 2/3-inning turn on the mound was enough to all but finish Great Bridge Tuesday afternoon as the Bruins posted an 11-4 victory over the visiting Wildcats in a Southeastern District showdown.
The Bruins (15-3, 10-2 Southeastern) vaulted into first place in the district, a half-game ahead of the Wildcats (11-5-1, 7-2-1) in the loss column. Churchland (8-6, 7-2), which also won, trails the Bruins by three games in the victory column.
Both Western Branch and Great Bridge collected 10 hits, but the Bruins' hits were more timely, as they've often been when Hemmis pitches.
``I've gotten great run support,'' said Hemmis, a senior righthander who improved to 8-0. ``Up to the last few games, we'd been averaging about 10 runs a game. Hitting like that makes my job easy.''
The Bruins had two big innings, scoring six in the third and five more in the sixth. A sharp two-run single to center by No. 8 batter Eric Beaver capped the scoring in the third. A two-run single by No. 2 hitter Jeff Leiker was the big shot of the sixth.
``If the bottom of our order doesn't hit, we don't score runs,'' catcher Nick Ardagna said. ``We hit it up and down the lineup today.''
Home runs by Great Bridge catcher Jeff Myers and first baseman Alton Todd accounted for three of the Wildcats' four runs. But Hemmis was able to strand seven Wildcats on base in the first six innings, rarely making mistakes with runners in scoring position.
``Hemmis did a good job,'' said Great Bridge coach Martin Oliver. ``And they hit the ball as well as anybody in the Southeastern District. Right now, they're in the driver's seat. And that half-game (a 2-2 tie with Deep Creek early in the season) could come back to haunt us.'' by CNB