RAMSEUR — Austin Wells and Josh Harvey combined to toss Randolph’s first shutout of the summer while the Lumberkings made the most of five hits and took advantage of Carolina mistakes to blank the Coyotes 9-0 in Old North State League action Saturday night at I. Fletcher Craven Stadium.
The triumph elevated Randolph to 14-6-1 in the league standings, while Carolina stumbled to 9-10.
Wells scattered six hits over five innings — all of them coming with two away in four different frames — while issuing no walks and fanning three to earn the win.Harvey worked the final two innings, yielding a pair of hits besides walking one and striking out two.
“You can’t overlook the fantastic outing Austin Wells gave us tonight on short rest after pitching a complete game at the start of the week,” said Lumberkings’ coach Brandon Nelson. “I asked him to give us five innings and he exceeded expectations by not allowing a single run before Josh Harvey did a great job finishing up. We had good approaches at the plate this evening, and while we didn’t get many hits, we made them count and took advantage of our opportunities. After playing six games in four days and breaking even while being understaffed, I feel we’re in a good place to finish the season strong with all our starters back in the rotation next week.”
Coyotes’ starter Jordan Blalock hurled three innings and took the loss after giving up two runs (one earned) in addition to walking one and fanning four.
Darden Eure threw two-thirds of an inning in relief, surrendering two hits and a pair of earned runs with two walks before Gerard Chamra pitched one and one-third innings, allowing one hit and five runs (one earned) while issuing three free passes.
Caleb Staley came on to hurl the last two frames for Carolina and gave up one hit while whiffing three.
Coyotes coach Riley Nelson was unavailable for comments following the game.
Randolph seized a 1-0 advantage in the top of the first as Nate Vargo drew a leadoff walk on four pitches, stole second and went to third when Zeke Leconte reached on a one-out infield error.
Leconte and Vargo then pulled off a successful double steal, with the latter coming in to score.
The Lumberkings picked up a solo run in the visitors’ third as Vargo slapped a one-out base hit to left and advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches before coming home on Kyle Ehlers’ sacrifice fly to center.
The winners increased their lead to 4-0 in the top of the fourth as Justin St. Amour received a free pass with one away, stole second and moved to third on Tyler Shelton’s infield single.
Following a walk to Lino Figueroa that loaded the sacks, Ricky Kelly delivered a two-run single up the middle.
Randolph sent 10 batters to the plate in the visitors’ fifth and tallied five runs to wrap up the night’s scoring.
After Ehlers and Leconte drew back-to-back leadoff walks, Claytin Beaver doubled to left to drive in Ehlers and send Leconte to third.
Following consecutive infield errors that allowed both Leconte and Beaver to score, a one-out free pass issued to Nate Steen filled the bases prior to the Lumberkings adding their final two runs when Kelly was plunked with a pitch to bring in St. Amour while Vargo coaxed a base on balls to force in Shelton.