Pitching dominates again as Black evens World Series with 1-0 win

A day after smothering performances from starting pitchers Clarke Schmidt and Wil Crowe, it was much of the same in Game 2 of the Garnet and Black World Series.

Adam Hill and Cody Morris were both lights-out on the mound, but Hill had the edge, using a fifth-inning TJ Hopkins RBI single to steal a 1-0 victory for the Black team.

The win evens the series at one win apiece with the penultimate game Sunday at 7 p.m. The winner, head coach Chad Holbrook said last week, will likely get less conditioning or a team meal.

Hill and Morris were both on from the start, giving up no runs through the first three innings. The Black team scattered two hits off Morris through two innings, but nothing came of it.

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Hill didn’t allow a hit until the third inning, a double to right field to Josh Gregory before striking out Danny Blair swinging and inducing a Matt Williams fly out to end the inning.

The lanky 6-foot-5 sophomore was pulled with one out in the fourth. He finished with a shutout performance, giving up just one hit and one walk. He struck out five, including two in the third.

Morris would match Hill almost pitch-for-pitch, giving up just four hits through 4.1 innings of scoreless work.

The closest the Black team came to a runner in scoring position when the freshman was pitching was in the fourth when Chris Cullen tried to stretch a single into a double but was thrown out after Destino fired a laser from left to Chase DeMars as second.

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Caleb Whitenton and Josh Gregory would give the Garnet team some two-out live in the fifth. Whitenton singled and Gregory reached on an error, but Reed Scott struck out Blair to squash the threat.

Morris would go into the fifth inning and was pulled after giving up a single to Jacob Olson and walking Jake Wright.

Facing TJ Shook, Hopkins would break the deadlock a batter with an RBI single. The run was credited to Morris.

In their last chance, the Garnet team would try and mount a comeback, starting with a one-out single by Riley Hogan. Whitenton would strikeout and LT Tolbert would make a sprinting grab and catch to ice the game.

Garnet would get only two more base runners after the fifth inning, failing to hit Black team captain and pitcher Reed Scott. The senior reliever would pitch the final 3.2 innings and picked up the win.

Also see: Final news and notes before game time Saturday

Starting lineups

Garnet: CF, Danny Blair; 3B, Matt Williams; SS, Madison Stokes; LF, Alex Destino; C, John Jones; 2B, Chase DeMars; 1B, Riley Hogan; DH, Caleb Whitenton; RF, Josh Gregory; SP, Cody Morris

Black: CF, TJ Hopkins; SS, LT Tolbert; 3B, Jonah Bride; C, Chris Cullen; LF, Carlos Cortes; RF, Jacob Olson; 1B, Ross Grosvenor; DH, Jake Wright; 2B, Christian Flint; SP, Adam Hill

Pitching lines

Garnet

Cody Morris: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R (ER) , 1 BB, 2 K

LP (1-1) TJ Shook: .2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K

Hank Nichols: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K

Black

Adam Hill: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K

WP (1-0) Reed Scott: 3.2, 3 H , 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K

Top offensive performers

TJ Hopkins: 1-4, RBI; Jacob Olson: 1-3, SB, R