Valley Center went around the batting order in the first inning and jumped to a 4-0 lead against Augusta to start Thursday’s doubleheader.
Augusta quickly responded, though, and the game turned into a scoring frenzy. Augusta took a 13-7 lead in the fifth inning. That’s when Jeff Scharff hit an inside-the-park home run with the bases loaded to give the Orioles a 17-7 run-rule win.
The Orioles tried to get back some of those immediately. Valley Center hit two straight Augusta batters to start the bottom of the first. That put a runner in scoring position for Christian Ingalls, who singled to left-center to score Augusta’s first run.
The Orioles quickly tied, then took a big lead into the fifth inning, setting the stage for Scharff.
Game 2 ended in similar fashion.
The Orioles loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh in a 7-7 game that had three lead changes. Jesse Wallace came to the plate with two outs and hit the first pitch to deep right field for the 8-7 game-winner.
“We fought back and never gave up,” Wallace said. “We’ve had a lot of obstacles to overcome.”
This time it was Augusta that took an early lead, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first.
Valley Center got a man on after a throwing error to first base to start the third inning, then advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a double.
Valley Center threatened more in the third, loading the bases, but Augusta pitcher Kyle Vogt ended the Hornets’ threat by getting them to pop up to end the inning.
Brandon McBeth hit an RBI-single in the bottom half of the inning for a 3-1 lead.
Valley Center tied it in the fourth, then took the lead on a sac-fly. The Hornets scored four runs in the inning, three with two outs.
Wallace scored on a wild pitch after hitting a triple off the center field wall in the fourth. In the fifth, Steven Smith hit an infield RBI-single to score the tying run.
