North Lenoir breaks out of conference slump in baseball, blows out South Lenoir
The combination of Trevor Sears, left and Brendon Grant on the mound was more than enough to help North Lenoir get past South Lenoir Friday. Photo by Junious Smith III / Neuse News
DEEP RUN — North Lenoir certainly made a statement Friday.
The Hawks defeated South Lenoir 13-1 on the road, busting out of an Eastern Carolina Conference slump in a big way. North Lenoir (9-3, 2-3 ECC) scored just 12 runs in its first four conference games, but posted runs in every inning against the Blue Devils (3-6, 1-5), ending the game in five.
“We played hard the entire time, which is all you can ask for,” North Lenoir coach Jackson Massey said. “We did a great job hitting with two outs and took advantage of mistakes on the other side. Our pitching and defense was tremendous as well.
“Our conference is tough from top to bottom and while we’re excited about this one, we have to sustain the momentum Tuesday against Kinston. We played well on Friday, but we have to keep working.”
Trevor Sears allowed just three hits and no unearned runs in four innings of work, keeping the Blue Devils off balance. Sears said it felt good to score in bunches on the offensive end.
“We had been struggling on offense, but we kept working hard and were finally able to break through,” Sears said. “We were able to beat South Lenoir and really pick up some momentum.”
Brendon Grant, who threw a perfect inning of relief with two strikeouts, said the potential of getting back to tradition is there. North Lenoir is the five-time defending ECC regular-season champions.
“We’ve done a lot of work this week with the coaches hitting the ball and getting back to form,” Grant said. “It’s helped us when it comes to hitting inside pitches and I think if we can keep this going we’ll be alright.”
North Lenoir had 13 hits against South Lenoir and four players had multiple, including Malik Dixon who went 3-4 with two RBIs. Garrett Brock went 2 of 3 with 3 RBIs and Ethan May drove in a pair of runs.
