Smithfield-Selma baseball takes down Southeast Raleigh

Smithfield-Selma sent 13 men to the plate and plated eight runs in the first inning en route to a 16-0 win over Southeast Raleigh in five innings at Spartan Field on Wednesday.

In total, the Spartans (2-8) banged out 11 hits while hitting their season high in runs scored.

“This is what we needed,” Smithfield-Selma coach Michael Sliger said. “We had some kids make adjustments at the plate. We had some kids who were struggling get some confidence.”

Austin Blackman came off the bench to go 2-for-2 with a triple and three RBI, Nick Williams was 2-for-2 with a double and three RBI and Jacob Whittington was a perfect 4-for-4 with a double and a pair of runs batted in.

Connon Gardner pitched four shutout innings while striking out eight to record the win on the mound.

Abimael Santos took the loss for the Bulldogs (0-5), who got hits from Enrique Marroquin, Gregory McDonald, Nassem Nina and J'Von Rourk II in the game.

Nina relieved Santos and pitched 3.1 innings, drawing praise from his manager for his competitiveness.

“I take a lot of positive things (out of today),” Southeast Raleigh coach Eric Rice said. “I had (Nina) come in in the first inning and competed. He threw strikes.”

Both teams return to conference action Friday night when Smithfield-Selma visits Western Harnett while Southeast Raleigh hosts West Johnston.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Smithfield-Selma baseball takes down Southeast Raleigh."