On a breezy but sunny late winter Saturday, the Greenville High Hornets blanked the Riverside High Bulldogs 10-0 in local baseball action.
In a game that featured a rebuilding Bulldogs squad and an ascending Hornets group, it was the Hornets pitching that stood out in the contest. Greenville High starter Damien Brown went three innings striking out seven walking one and yielding only one hit. Aaron Coats came into the game in the fourth and fifth innings in relief of Brown and blew away every Bulldogs batter that stepped into the box. He struck out all six batters that he faced.
As the ball popped the catcher’s mitt, Coats teammates yelled in unison from the dugout, “Ooh, that fast ball is too nasty!” We have six seniors on this team and our talent can take us as far as they want to go.”
Riverside head coach Boo Ellis concurred. “Hats off to Coach Jones and the program that he has built at Greenville High,” Ellis said. “This wasn’t our day but we ran up against a great team.”
Coats led the Hornets offense by blasting a 350-foot two run homer off Bulldogs starting pitcher Eric Kingdom to put his team up 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Ervin Simmons repeated the feat for Greenville High, but this time with the Hornets up 5-0 in the bottom of the second inning, he laced a shot into the right centerfield gap for an inside the park home run. Hornets first baseman Donovan Shead added two RBIs and two runs scored. As a team, the Hornets swiped six bases and aggressively took extra bases on hits to the outfield to keep runners in scoring position most of the game.
