HAMPTON, VA. -- In a game that pitted two teams ranked in the top six of the latest US Collegiate Athletic Association Coaches Poll, the Apprentice School baseball team matched a 16-year old school record with 26 hits as they topped USCAA rival Washington Adventist 18-6 on Thursday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium.
Washington Adventist, a NCAA Division II school that is also in the USCAA, is ranked sixth in the latest poll while the Builders held onto the top spot in the latest poll for the second straight week. Last year, the teams played a pair of one-run games in the 2009 USCAA National Tournament at War Memorial Stadium.
The Builders started the hitting rampage early scoring a pair of runs in the first inning. Jonathan Dehoux drove in a run with a single and later scored as Dory Fields reached on a fielders choice for a 2-0 lead.
In the third, the Builders scored three times as Fields drove in Yonta with a ground out and Hooper scored Devorn Lake with a single and Chris Kennedy also came in as a result of an error for a 5-0 advantage.
Washington Adventist scored a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-3, but the Builders erupted then for five runs in the sixth and six in the seventh. Dehoux blasted a two-run home run to left center in the sixth to highlight that outburst, while Chris Scarola hit a three-run triple and Josh Tuck smashed a two-run home run to left field in the seventh to put the Builders ahead 16-5.
The Shock responded with a run in the eighth and the Builders scored twice as Josh Wilson doubled in Kennedy and later scored on a Tuck single for the 18-6 margin.
Kennedy was 4-for-6 with three runs scored, while Tuck was 4-for-7 with two runs and three RBIs to pace the 26-hit attack. That matched the school record set almost 16 years ago to the day as the Builders had 26 hits in a win against Christopher Newport University on April 7, 1994. Hooper, Dehoux, Yonta, Fields and Scarola all chipped in with three hits each. Scarola drove in a game-high four runs.
Tabb Griffey went six innings allowing eight hits and striking out four to pick up his fourth win on the season. Tim Kehoe came in and threw two innings allowing three hits and striking out two while Dehoux closed the game with a scoreless ninth inning.
Apprentice School now will host Briarcliffe College in a big three-game USCAA series this weekend starting with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 pm. Briarcliffe, who has won 12 of its last 15 and is currently 13-7 on the year, is ranked second in the USCAA Coaches Poll.
