Bears sweep pair

Published 2:04 pm Thursday, March 8, 2012

Hertford County High School swept a pair of baseball outings here earlier this week.

On Monday, the Bears used a combined one-hitter from Tucker Warren and Eric Ortiz to stop KIPP Pride 13-1 before beating Northampton County High School – East 20-1 on Tuesday.

Monday, the Bears opened the scoring against KIPP with five runs in the bottom of the first frame.

Tyler Burden started things with a triple to left. He scored on a Marvin Harrell double. Ackerman Grace then singled to center, moving Harrell to third. Harrell came around to score on a wild pitch before Warren drew a free pass.

Jahleel Fleetwood, a courtesy runner for Warren, stole second and then Ryan Weaver delivered a two-run triple. Weaver scored on a wild pitch, accounting for the fifth run.

KIPP plated it’s only run in the second inning when Bobby Peedin scored on a wild pitch.

The Bears added another mark in the second when Harrell walked, stole second, third and home to make it 6-1.

Hertford County scored five more runs in the third.

Brock Merritt and Brandon Staton drew a walk and each advanced on a balk. Burden then laced a two-run double to left. He stole third and scored on an Harrell single.

Grace them moved Harrell to third on a single before Warren delivered an RBI-single that scored Harrell. Grace also made it home thanks to an error on the play. The result was an 11-1 lead for the Bears.

HCHS added to that advantage with two more scores in the bottom of the fourth frame.

Ortiz tripled to right and then scored on a Staton double. Staton then scored when Harrell reached on a dropped third strike to establish the 13-1 final.

The Bears belted out 13 hits in the game led by Burden.

Warren pitched three and two-thirds allowing one run and one hit while striking out seven. Ortiz finished the game and gave up no runs on no hits.

A day later, the Bears scored 10 runs in the top of the first frame to jump out to an early lead and never looked back.

Burden pitched two innings in the contest, allowing a single run but no hits. He had four strikeouts. Harrell tossed an inning allowing no runs and no hits with three strikeouts.

Offensively, the Bears had 14 hits led by Burden and Cobb with three each.

The pair of wins allowed the Bears to improve to 3-1 overall for the season.