Published: May 11, 2008 02:06 am            

Hornets sweep series over Scarborough

By Cody Stark

cstark@itemonline.com



Huntsville senior ace Justin Davis was surprisingly modest following the Hornets’ 7-0 victory over Houston Scarborough that clinched an area-round series sweep at Kate Barr Ross Park on Saturday.

“Physically, I think I can do a little bit better,” the hard-throwing right-hander said.

Better? It’s hard to get better than 18 Spartans up and 18 Spartans down. That’s right, with a little bit of help from reliever Cody Gougler, who pitched a three-and-out seventh inning, Davis threw a perfect game to help send Huntsville to the regional quarterfinals next weekend against Austin McCallum.

Davis did a solid job of locating his pitches, which kept the Spartan batters off balance to the tune of nine strikeouts for his 11th win of the season. He also got plenty of support from the Hornet offense thanks to a monster solo home run by Adam Ayala and a two-run blast by catcher Ethan Woods that highlighted a four-run fifth inning for the Hornets (21-11).

It was the second time in three days that Huntsville held Scarborough (13-11) hitless. Sophomore left-hander Caleb Smith combined with reliever Cole Sullivan for a five-inning no-hitter in the Hornets’ 17-0 victory in game one Thursday at Ashmore Field in Houston.

“I think we did a good job of keeping them off-balance,” Davis said. “Caleb threw against them first and his ball tails away and coming back with me it tails in. It’s a good one-two punch. It was swing and miss, and I felt like I hit my spots pretty well. I had more command than I usually do. I was zoned in mentally.”

The Hornets got off to a slow start at the plate managing only one run in the second and third innings.

With one out in the second, third baseman Shaquille Ross knocked in pinch runner Tyler Benson on a sacrifice fly to left. In the third, Davis ripped a two-out double down the third-baseline and into the left-field corner to setup an RBI single by Gougler.

The Spartans threw junior Jimmy Angelo, a junkball pitcher, and Huntsville couldn’t get a bead on his off-speed stuff. The Hornets were way out in front of Angelo’s pitches, but that changed the second time through the lineup.

Ayala got things cooking in the fifth. After getting around early and ripping a pair of breaking balls foul, the junior designated hitter set back in his stance and waited. Angelo came back in almost the exact same location and Ayala crushed the pitch over the scoreboard in left field to make it 3-0.

Junior Derek Kloecker followed with a single and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch with two outs. Gougler then drew a walk, and Woods made it 6-0 with his shot just left of the scoreboard.

“Coach (Shelby Shaw) has been telling us to stay back and we have been practicing it in the cages,” Woods said. “We have been hitting with the curveball machine and it paid off.”

The Hornets added one more run in the sixth. Ross reached on a catcher’s interference call, stole second and made it to third when the pickoff throw sailed wide into center field. Spartans reliever Blake Roberts then threw a wild pitch and Ross scored easily to make it 7-0.

Shaw elected to go with Gougler in the seventh to close it out since the left-hander’s last outing came three weeks ago in a loss to Brenham. The senior got the first batter to groundout to the mound, then struck out the side to preserve the perfecto.

The Hornets made quick work of the Spartans, but things will get tougher against McCallum. The Knights, winner’s of District 17-4A at 16-0, are 22-7-2 on the season after topping Houston Davis 5-3 Friday night.

“I felt like our swings were going to get better as the day went,” Shaw said. “We started adjusting and did a much better job. Adam has been in a funk recently, but he squared up on that ball about as good as you can, and Ethan hits a home run when we have a hit-and-run on.

“But it’s going to get a little better next week. We went and saw McCallum last night, and it’s going to be a good series.”

The best-of-three quarterfinals series will be held at A&M Consolidated High School beginning Thursday at 7 p.m. Game two will be Friday at 7 p.m. and game three, if necessary, will be Saturday at 1 p.m.

        

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