HONAKER, Va. – Honaker High School’s baseball team struck out 11 times in a season-opening setback to the Union Bears on March 11.
“That first loss,” said sophomore Eli McGlothlin of the Tigers. “It was just a whiff. That’s all that was.”
Honaker has gone from whiffing to walloping in its three games since opening day with McGlothlin doing some serious mashing.
He went 4-for-4 and scored three times on Wednesday night at Harding Field as Honaker hammered out a 9-7 triumph over the Eastside Spartans in a marquee matchup between two of Region 1D’s top teams.
Honaker (3-1) scored seven times in the fifth inning to take the lead for good and responded to Eastside’s five-run outburst in the fourth inning.
“We got really hot there when we needed to and stayed hot the rest of the game,” said Honaker senior Trevor Lester.
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Nobody has been hotter than McGlothlin, hitting .643 (9-for-14) with five RBIs through four games.
He’s struck out just one time and that came in that aforementioned defeat at the hands of the Union Bears.
The outfielder compiled a .244 batting average last season and was a first-team All-Black Diamond District selection.
“He has been on fire,” said Honaker coach Chris Anderson. “He has played really well. He’s swinging a good stick, has a good compact swing and he’s finding ways to get on a base. He’s been a real sparkplug.”
McGlothlin singled twice during that fifth-inning onslaught when Honaker sent 13 men to the plate.
Lester hit a two-run single, Christian Ball connected for a game-tying two-run single and Matthew Nunley drove in the go-ahead run after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded during a rally that came against Eastside starter Keldan Hamilton and relief pitcher Tanner Perry. Perry opened his outing with nine straight balls and wound up walking three and hitting a batter during that fifth inning.
“That was a really good inning for all of us,” Lester said.
Lester went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and has already driven in seven runs this spring.
Nunley carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning for Honaker before Eastside had its big inning that was aided by three errors by the Tigers.
He still got his second win of the spring, while Connor Musick got the final six outs for the save. Nunley and Musick each had two hits, while Elijah Musick walked three times.
Eastside (2-1) got the potential tying run to the plate in the seventh, but Musick struck out the game’s final two batters.
Honaker has shifted from the Black Diamond District to the Hogoheegee District this season and the Tigers are much improved.
“Honestly, all the way around we’ve grown,” Anderson said. “I thought we were taking some good steps last year. We have some seniors we miss, but I think we’ve taken that natural step forward. We were very young last year and we’re starting to see some of the experience some of these guys have built up starting to pay off for them.”
Eastside has had an interesting start to the season with an 8-7 win over Union, a 12-10 triumph over Patrick Henry and Wednesday’s back-and-forth affair.
“That was fun, man,” Eastside coach Chris Clay said. “The four pitchers, outside of Perry for maybe one second there, pitched like the game should have been 4-2, but it was 9-7. That was wild. … I think we’re good enough to hang around with anybody and bad enough to let everybody hang around. It’s going to be a fun year.”
Perry had three hits for Eastside, while Clay Ward, Keldan Hamilton, Gabe Raymond and Adam Burke tallied RBIs.
A freshman left-hander, Hamilton pitched well until running into trouble in the fifth.
“We were happy with the young guy [Hamilton] tonight,” Clay said. “His line looks bad, but he pitched really good.”
Eastside is once again the favorite to win the Cumberland District and will be a factor come regional tournament time.
“These guys like baseball,” Clay said. “Not saying I haven’t always had kids that liked baseball, but this older group comes to work every day.”
The two teams have a return engagement on April 3 in Coeburn, but there could also be a meaningful matchup between the squads come May.
“Against Union, we looked terrible that night,” Anderson said. “But the more you see live arms the better you get. We’ve bought into the approach we’re trying to get and being more aggressive at the plate. It’s starting to pay off.”
Eastside 000 510 1—7 7 2
Honaker 101 070 x—9 11 3
Hamilton, Perry (5) and Ward. M. Nunley, C. Musick (6) and I. Johnson. W – M. Nunley (2-0). L – Hamilton (0-1). S – C. Musick (1). HR – none.