Casey Waites has more than enjoyed the past 48 hours as Dutch Fork baseball coach.
A night earlier, his former player Crosby Jones had the game-winning RBI single for The Citadel in a 4-3 win over the University of South Carolina. The hit revived present memories for Waites watching Jones' go-ahead RBI single to win the 2019 Class 5A title.
Fast forward to Wednesday: Waites' current team improved to 2-0 in Region 5-5A with a 15-0 shutout in four innings of White Knoll.
Four players — Blake Martin, Qwinton Bennett, Clark Hubbard and Landon Kahl — all drove in three runs. The Silver Foxes also got three home runs, two by Martin and one from Bennett for more than enough run support for starting pitcher Kevin Samonsky.
He struck out five and allowed just one hit in four innings. It was the second straight win over the Timberwolves, who have been outscored 31-2 by Dutch Fork (5-3, 2-0).
"We've always thought we could hit and it was a good night to hit tonight," Waites said. "It was a good night to let it fly."
Despite the dominant wins, Waites is taking a cautious approach to the remaining 10 region games. He isn't ready to declare the Silver Foxes a "playoff team," but he believes they will get better as the season progresses.
"This is a region where every game is a playoff and I know it's spoken all the team," he said. "It's critical to get off to a good start. It's critical to maintain when things go bad as well."
Wednesday's contest was one of the few athletic events to take place in Chronicle Country. River Bluff and Lexington pushed back its second game to Thursday, while Dutch Fork will visit White Knoll Friday to close out the three-game series.
Eduardo Membreño scored four goals and Angel Reyes, Lawton Powers, Cesar Membreño and Alex Rivera all had assists for the Bearcats.
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