The NC Varsity Baseball team pummeled the Kennesaw Mountain Mustangs on Wednesday, April 11 by a score of 12-5. This win moves NC to 12-14 overall and 6-5 in the region. Kennesaw Mountain drops to 13-11 overall with a 5-6 region record.

Senior third baseman and pitcher Zack Lewis started on the mound for the Warriors and retired the first three Mustang batters in the top of the first inning. The only hit of the first inning came from the bat of senior first baseman Gavin Rose with a single up the middle of the field.

Lewis walked the first batter of the second inning and left a pitch up in the strike zone for University of Georgia baseball and football commit senior Ryland Goede to hit a two run homer to make the score 2-0. Lewis quickly recovered and escaped the half inning without anymore damage.

At the top of the third inning, the Warriors committed two errors to move two runners in to scoring position with no outs, but Lewis struck out one batter and caused the next batter to ground Rose at first base. After Rose touched first base, the runner at second creeped too far off of the bag, and Rose capitalized on the mistake, forcing the runner into a run down and tagging him out to end the inning.

“I don’t know what that guy was thinking. If you make a mistake, I will make sure you pay for it,” Rose said.

The bats took a while to heat up for the Warriors, as they could not muster another hit until the fourth inning, with Rose doubling to right center to score freshman catcher Harry Ford, making the score 2-1.

The Warriors turned up the heat in the sixth inning as Lewis led off the inning with a solo home run to left field to tie up the score at 2-2. Lewis also provided three Runs Batted In (RBI) later in the sixth inning, as part of a twelve run offensive explosion to secure a 12-5 victory.

“I got hot at the right time. It was good to show out for my team in a heated rivalry game,” Lewis said.

With the season nearing its end, the Warriors will gear up for their matchup against the Hillgrove Hawks on Monday, April 16. If the Warriors can muster one more win, they will clinch a spot into the state playoffs.