High school Notebook: South Granville gets no-hitter, triple play in the same game

Four South Granville High pitchers combined for a no-hitter and the Vikings turned an unusual triple play in an 8-0 victory over Granville Central on Monday night.

Justin Bullock (3 innings, 7 strikeouts), Clay Walters (2 innings, 5 strikeouts), Jordan Harris (1 inning, 0 strikeouts) and Ty Adcock (1 inning, 2 strikeouts) split the pitching duties. They walked three batters.

The Vikings turned the triple play in the sixth inning after Central put runners on second and third on a walk and an error. Rightfielder Leland Swanson caught a fly ball and threw to first baseman Justin Brown, who threw to the plate. The runner had tagged up, but did not try to score.

Adcock, who was catching, threw to second where shortstop Bullock tagged the runner hustling back to the base for the second out. Bullock then threw to the plate where Adcock tagged out the runner from third.

If you are scoring, it was a 9-3-2-6-2 triple play.

“It was a wild play,” said South Granville coach Curt Watkins, whose club opened the season last Friday with a five-inning 10-0 win over Warren County.

The fast start has been fueled by the 6-foot-1, 175-pound sophomore Bullock, who already is committed to N.C. State. He pitched the first three innings of the opener, striking out eight, and now has 15 strikeouts in six innings.

“He is ranked as the best sophomore prospect in the state and is among the top 30 in the nation,” Watkins said.

The Viking pitchers have 28 strikeouts in 12 innings this season.

Smalley shines: Wake Forest’s Alex Smalley shot a two-under par 34 on Monday in the Cap Eight 4A golf match at North Ridge Country Club. Broughton took four of the next five spots with Patrick Carlin (35), Stephen Saleeby (35), Jimbo Stanley (36) and Harrison Rhoades (37).

Wake County baseball: Sanderson and Heritage will be the host schools for the Wake County Invitational on March 20-23. The teams play Friday, Saturday and Monday.

The opening round games are Knightdale vs. Holly Springs (4:30) and Panther Creek vs. Sanderson (7:30) at Sanderson and East Wake vs. Fuquay-Varina (4:30) and Apex vs. Heritage (7:30) at Heritage.

The Invitational doesn’t use a traditional winners vs. winners tournament format. Second-round games are set. The teams will be paired for the final day.

Players of year: Justine Lyon of Durham Hillside and Kentrell Barkley of Northern Durham are the girls and boys basketball players of the year in the PAC-6 4A.

Celebration: Garner High plans a celebration for its state championship boys basketball team at 1:45 p.m., on Wednesday at the school’s football field.

First win: Orange’s 2-1 win (4-1 PKs) against defending 3A state champ Chapel Hill this pastWednesday was the Panthers’ first-ever win in the series.

This story was originally published March 17, 2015 at 5:15 PM with the headline "High school Notebook: South Granville gets no-hitter, triple play in the same game."