Fuquay-Varina baseball tops Bunn, ends WCBI 3-0

Fuquay-Varina wrapped up the Wake County Baseball Invitational beating Bunn 7-1 Tuesday night at East Wake’s field, but Wildcats coach Christopher Cullom liked more about his team than the final score reflected.

“I’m not a moral victory guy, but I thought we did a good job competing as a 2A school against a good 4A team,” said Cullom. “Fuquay-Varina is a complete lineup. That’s a state title contender. ... We didn’t do a good job of competing against Holly Springs (a 16-2 loss Monday), but I was happy with the way we competed with our at bats and our pitching against Fuquay. We left too many pitches over the plate against Holly Springs.”

Fuquay-Varina, ranked No. 5 in the N&O Top 25, won all three tournament games to improve to 14-2. Bunn dropped to 12-5.

The Bengals capitalized on aggressive base running, an all-around game from senior center fielder Kevin Catrine and a two-run home run from Kyle Mott.

Catrine was 1-of-2 batting with two runs scored and a sacrifice fly ball for an RBI that scored Brycen Braswell after his fourth-inning triple.

“We’ve got a good team going right now,” Catrine said. “We have a good depth, good pitching and good tradition.”

Mott’s homer came in the bottom of the second after Andrew Alexander walked. Mott’s towering shot down the left-field line soared beyond the 310-foot marker on the fence.

Bunn pushed across a run in the top of the sixth. Andrew Smith singled, advanced to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on a single by D.J. Daniel.

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 10:39 AM with the headline "Fuquay-Varina baseball tops Bunn, ends WCBI 3-0."