3A Union Pines gets past Chatham Central 7-1

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SILER CITY — You’ll have a hard time trying to convince Chatham Central coach Brett Walden the third time is necessarily a charm.

His Bears faced off against Union Pines for the third time this year Thursday night on Jimmy Warfford Field in the tipoff game of the second annual Jordan-Matthews Easter Classic, and just like in the previous two meetings it was the Vikings who prevailed.

Behind the pitching of freshman Chance Purvis and timely hitting with runners in scoring position, Union Pines strolled to a 7-1 triumph to raise its season record to 9-8, while Chatham Central fell to 8-6 overall.

Making just his second start this spring, Purvis hurled five innings to garner the win, allowing five hits and one earned run in addition to walking one and fanning six.

Will Fernandez tossed the final two frames for the Vikings, giving up one hit while striking out one.

“Purvis gave us an awesome effort tonight, doing a great job filling up the strike zone,” said Union Pines’ coach Eric Marion. “Playing small-ball in the early innings gave us a quick lead as we were able to manufacture runs by getting bunts down, moving runners up and then getting hits with people on base.”

Southpaw Caleb Staley opened on the mound for the Bears and took the loss after being tagged for seven hits and five runs (two earned) while issuing one free pass and whiffing two over two and two-third innings.

Carson Brewer threw two and one-third innings in relief for Chatham Central and yielded four hits along with a pair of earned runs while striking out one before Micah Gurley pitched one inning of hitless ball, fanning one.

“While Caleb didn’t have his best stuff this evening, I thought Carson and Micah pitched well in relief, doing a good job throwing strikes,” remarked Bears’ coach Brett Walden.

“We had our chances but couldn’t get two-out hits when we needed them with runners on base,” Walden said. “We really didn’t do much well tonight, committing five errors and not producing at the plate, and we just need to find some consistency.”

The Vikings seized a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first as leadoff batter Ethan McKay was plunked by a pitch, was sacrificed to second and went to third on Bryson Horney’s base hit to center prior to scoring on Alex Mauldin’s opposite-field single to right.

Union Pines boosted its lead to 2-0 in the home second as Purvis led off with a base hit up the middle before courtesy runner Micah Monaghan was sacrificed to second and scored on Jack Lange’s two-out double into the left field corner.

The winners stretched their advantage to 5-0 in the bottom of the third as Mauldin led off the frame with a single to left and continued on to second when the ball was misplayed in the outfield.

After Jonathan Foster reached on a throwing error as Mauldin advanced to third, Logan Finchum was nicked by a pitch to load the sacks prior to Chandler Taylor coaxing a full-count walk to force in Mauldin, and two outs later McKay drilled a two-run single down the left field line.

Chatham Central plated its lone run in the top of the fourth as Staley led off with an infield single and moved to third on Carter Fuquay’s double into the left field corner, and one out later Staley came in to score when Collin Lagenor stroked a double to the fence in left.

The Vikings then added a pair of insurance runs with two away in the home fifth as Gray Culler and McKay reached on back-to-back infield singles before Lange drove in the former with a base hit up the gap in right-center that sent McKay to third prior to the latter racing home on a wild pitch.