Wes Smith tosses no-hitter in LC loss to Green Devils

DODSONVILLE – The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs took part in an occurrence so rare against the North Adams Green Devils that it has happened just five times in over 100-plus years at the major league level.

Lynchburg-Clay's Wes Smith tossed a six-inning no-hitter against the Green Devils at LCHS, but the Green Devils took advantage of a walk, a hit batter and a defensive error by LC to defeat the Mustangs by a 2-0 score.

In another strange occurrence in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference contest, the Mustangs were the away team on their home field as the game was moved to LC due to field conditions at NAHS.

The "road" loss for the Mustangs saw the two runs scored against them in the bottom of the third inning.

Cole Roades began the NA half of the third by taking first base after being hit by a pitch. Roades stole second base, and Noah Bunn walked, eventually seeing the first run of the game scored. Mikey Sheeley had a sacrifice fly for the second out of the inning, leading to a second run for the Green Devils.

Both runs scored without North Adams having a hit. In all, NA had a total of four base runners in the game, a game which took under two hours to complete.

"This is a tough loss," LC head coach Garyn Waits said. "One hit, one walk, a hit batsman, a couple calls that didn't go our way and there it is, a 2-0 loss.

"After hitting the batter and walking the next guy, it took Wes a little time to zone back in, but this is the first time he's pitched in a game in two weeks due to all the weather issues we've had.

"We need him to keep building on this season, and he's going to be a pitcher we count on the rest of the way."

Besides that inning, Smith and the LC defense were mostly spot on. The first batter of the game for NA reached on an infield error, only to see Smith strike out two batters in the inning, and the aforementioned base runner out on a fielder's choice.

Smith retired the side in the second with two strikeouts and a ground out to the third baseman. Following the two-run third by the Green Devils, Smith struck out two batters in the second, as he again faced the minimum three batters in the inning.

NA made the game interesting with a player reaching the bases on an infield error with two outs, only to see Smith answer by forcing the NA batter to ground out the the shortstop.

Smith saved his best for last, striking out the side, giving LC a final chance to gain the win. The LC junior finished the game with 10 strikeouts on 86 pitches in the loss.

"We can't ask for any more than what we had from Wes in this game," Waits said.

When at the plate, the Mustangs had their chances as well, though they had just four hits in the loss.

After being retired in order at the top of the first inning, Morgan Ryan walked with one out in the second, only to be out on a fielder's choice hit by Kendall Vilvens.

LC was retired again in order in the third inning, and in the fourth they had three base runners in Cory Snider with a single, Andrew Reuss with a base hit and Ryan with a fielder's choice, only to see no runs cross the plate. Snider was stranded at third.

The Mustangs went down 1-2-3 in the fifth inning, and in the sixth Snider had his second hit of the game with a two-out single. Snider stole second base, only to be left in scoring position for the second time in the game.

In the seventh, LC made the game more interesting with Christian Inman reaching the bases on a two-out single (on a 0-2 count), a hit that followed a double play, only to see the game end with a close call at first base in the ensuing at-bat.

"I told the guys we were playing for pride in this game, and I don't feel we played bad, but the events of (Wednesday) was just the way the game broke," Waits said. "Baseball is the only game out of the Big Three sports where the team that is the biggest, strongest and fastest doesn't win 99.9 percent of the time.

"Freak things like throwing a no-hitter and you lose happens sometimes, but it doesn't make any sense."

The loss moves LC to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in the SHAC. On Tuesday, LC defeated the Ripley Blue Jays, 7-2, and on Monday the Mustangs defeated the Eastern Brown Warriors, 12-4.