Mustangs baseball clinches SHAC Div. I title for 2nd straight season

The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs have earned the Division I Southern Hills Athletic Conference championship for the 2015 season, defeating the Ripley Blue Jays 15-5 in five innings Tuesday at RHS.

The Mustangs (11-8 overall) have won at least a share of a SHAC championship 24 times in the history of the baseball program, including four of the past five seasons.

This is the second consecutive SHAC title for the Mustangs, finishing their conference slate with a 9-4 record. LC defeated Ripley, Eastern Brown, West Union and Peebles twice, along with Whiteoak once, en route to the championship.

LC's four losses came against Fairfield, Fayetteville, Manchester and North Adams.

In all this season, LC outscored their SHAC opponents, 102-46, including three shutout wins.

"The SHAC championship adds a little taste of success to this season," LC head coach Garyn Waits told The Highland County Press. "We've had some bumps, but we have made some strides at the right time. The guys are starting to bridge a complete game with offense and defense."

As for the conference-clinching win for the Mustangs, they forced the hand of the host Blue Jays early with nine runs, leading by a 9-3 score after the first inning. Each team scored a run in the second inning, giving the visiting Mustangs a 10-4 lead.

In the third, LC scored three runs, but in the fourth RHS added a run to their side of the scoreboard, leaving the Mustangs in front 13-5.

LC secured the victory with a two-run top of the fifth, while keeping the Blue Jays away from the plate for the run-rule win. In all, the Mustangs totaled 17 hits, while the hosts had just four.

Leading LC was Christian Inman with a 3-for-4 day at the plate, with two runs, including a double, triple and two RBIs.

Also with three hits in the win was Andrew Reuss, who was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and one run. Two of the three hits by Reuss were doubles.

With two hits each were Dakota Baker (two RBIs, one run), Devin Pierson (three runs), Morgan Ryan (two runs, one RBI) and Kendall Vilvens (three runs, a stolen base and one RBI).

Cory Snider had one hit (a triple) and two RBIs, while Forrest Elam also had a hit, two walks and two runs scored. Also with one hit was Quinton Lewis, also adding a run and a sacrifice fly.

Pierson was the winning pitcher for LC, facing 23 batters. In four innings, the junior allowed five runs (three earned) on four hits and four walks. Pierson collected six strikeouts. Ryan pitched one inning of relief with two strikeouts against three batters faced.