One of the bigger stories so far in the NHSI is that Dylan Cease didn't pitch for Milton.
Photo by Dennis Carter
Strong pitching performances and at least one upset marked the first
round of the National High School Invitational baseball tournament in
Cary, N.C. on Wednesday.
Coral Springs Christian (Fla.) 1, Orange Lutheran (Calif.) 0
Touki Toussaint
gave up just one hit and struck out 12 in six innings of
work to lift Coral Springs Christian to the win. Toussaint showed a bit of wildness, walking five and hitting
two batters, but he threw 67 strikes out of 116 pitches. Toussaint also
had the RBI hit, driving in
Pemron Burrows in the first inning.
Huntsville (Ala.) 5, Roberson (Asheville, N.C.) 0
Strong pitching by
Whitt Davis
doomed host Roberson. Davis gave up one hit while striking out seven. Roberson was unable to take
advantage of the eight walks Davis relinquished in picking up the win.
Davis also paced the Huntsville offense, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Mountain Pointe (Phoenix) 4, Bishop Verot (Fort Myers, Fla.) 0
Jorge Carrazco
struck out just two batters, but he didn't allow a run over the course
of six innings to give Mountain Pointe the shutout win. Carrazco gave up five hits and walked just one in getting the
win. Offensively,
Taylor Martin and
Sam Park each had a double while
Cole Tucker was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Jake Alexander also added two RBIs.
Clovis (Calif.) 7, ThunderRidge (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) 2
Clovis
scored all of its runs during a seven-run fourth inning. The Cougars
didn't have any extra-base hits, but received RBI singles from
Jacob Gatewood,
Cody Murray and
Tevin Mitchell.
Alan Crowley also had an RBI on a sacrifice fly while
Keilen Araki was 2-for-2 with two RBIs.
Preston Mott went four innings and gave up one run on three hits with three strikeouts to get the win.
Aaron Germani had a double for ThunderRidge.
The First Academy (Orlando, Fla.) 2, Milton (Ga.) 0
While Milton was forced to go without its ace
Dylan Cease due to an arm injury, The First Academy put its top pitcher on the mound in
Foster Griffin
and he delivered with a three-hit shutout over the defending Georgia 6A
state champions. Griffin struck out eight and walked just two for the
win. He also had a double while
Adam Haseley added a triple.
Dyer County (Newbern, Tenn.) 16, Aliso Niguel (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) 1
The
Tennessee school had the biggest offensive explosion in the tournament
on the first day as it banged out 19 hits off five Aliso Niguel
pitchers.
Tyler Brown,
Trysten Barlow
and Tyler Holcomb each had three hits for the winners. Paxton Stover
got the win for Dyer County, giving up one run on five hits with six
strikeouts.
Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.) 6, Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.) 1
Zach Heath gave up one run on five hits and struck out two to lead Regis Jesuit to the win over Parkview.
Max George had a big day at the plate for the winners, going 3-for-3 with two RBIs.
Jack Brett added a pair of hits, including a double.
Gainesville (Ga.) 6, Venice (Fla.) 3
Michael Gettys outdueled four Venice pitchers to land the Red Elephants a win. Gettys also had an RBI on offense, although Gainesville managed its six runs on just five hits. Gettys allowed three earned runs and struck out four while walking four.
