The Walters Blue Devils Varsity Baseball team is midway through their regular season and are making some noise in 2A baseball. In addition to winning the Red Dirt Classic Championship on Saturday, March 30th, they have a recorded 16 wins with only 2 losses, and are ranked #12 in the state. Some notable accomplishments include 2 wins over ranked opponents, 10 wins via run rule and of course, they were crowned the Red Dirt Classic Champions at Central High School after beating Binger-Oney 10-0 in the Championship game.
In addition to impressive offensive statistics for the Blue Devils, Lance Martin provided some defensive support in the Championship game for the Blue Devis. The game ended early due to “run rule”, but through 5 innings, the Junior pitcher had 8 strikeouts, 4 walks, 0 hits and 0 runs. Jermaine Chasenah, the Senior Catcher was a workhorse behind the dish, catching 15 innings in the tournament, keeping stolen bases to a minimum and throwing out one “would be” runner against the Empire Bulldogs.
Offense and defense were on full display throughout the tournament as the Blue Devils outscored their opponents by a combined score of 39-5. Lance Martin, Jace Morgan and Tucker Teakell led the Blue Devils offense in hits. Creed Shortt, Lance Martin, and Jace Morgan led the team in RBIs with 4 each. Martin, John Fremin, Cash Thomas, Maverick Cooke, John Jones, and Jace Morgan each scored 5 runs to lead the team. Walters opponents struggled to keep the Blue Devil baserunners in check. Maverick Cooke and John Jones led the team with 3 stolen bases each in the tournament.
Other notable performances in the tournament include an opening game win for Sophomore pitcher Caleb Merdan. In the 12-0 victory, Merdan struck out 4 batters with only 2 hits and 3 walks through 3 innings. Gage Sansome went 3.1 innings against Empire in the 7-4 victory. The sophomore recorded 3 strikeouts and Creed Shortt was credited with the win coming in for 1.2 innings of relief with 1 hit, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. Martin closed out the Bulldogs in the last inning with 2 strikeouts, 0 hits and 0 runs. Shortt pitched 5 innings in the Semi-Final game against the Central Bronchos giving up only 2 hits, 1 walk and 6 strikeouts.