Heritage baseball turns triple play, edges Wake Forest Cougars in extra innings
The baseball contest between rivals Wake Forest and Heritage had a little bit of everything.
Home runs, strikeouts, extra innings: you name it, it happened.
The highlight of them all was the rare triple play by the Huskies’ defense in the fifth inning.
That play turned the tide on the evening, leading Heritage to a 6-4 win over Wake Forest in Cap-8 play.
The Huskies (7-1, 3-1) needed an extra inning to defeat the Cougars (6-3, 2-2), taking a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth, only to watch Wake Forest tie the game at four each in the bottom of the seventh.
Heritage saved its best for last, getting a two-run triple from Thayer Thomas in the top of the eighth for the final margin. Vito Patierno moved Max Ruskie by laying down a bunt. Patierno got to first when Cougars’ pitcher Kyle Brewer went for the tag but dropped the baseball. After Wake Forest forced two outs, Thomas drilled a shot into the outfield to score Ruskie and Patierno.
The Cougars went three up, three down in its final at-bat. Wake Forest struck first in the bottom half of the first inning when Colson Hunter drove in the first of his three runs on the evening.
Heritage scored two in the top of the third, first when Thomas drove in a single, the second when he came home on a passed ball. Hunter then ripped a shot over the center field to score two runs, putting the Cougars in front, 3-2. Channie Renn countered with a home run of his own for Heritage in the top of the fifth, and an RBI double from Ruskie put Heritage in front for good.
Turning point
In the bottom of the fifth, Heritage used their triple play to take the life out of the Wake Forest dugout.
The ball was hit into the field and the runner at first was thrown out. Heritage then threw out the runner at home and made the head-up play to gun the runner down trying to get back to second.
Three to know
Colson Hunter, Wake Forest: Outfielder went 4-of-5 at the plate. He hit a two-run homer in the third and drove in runs in the first and sixth innings.
Channie Renn, Heritage: Drilled a single home run over the left field fence in the top of the fifth to tie the game at three.
Thayer Thomas, Heritage: Hit a two-RBI triple in the eighth to give the Huskies the final two-run margin.
This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Heritage baseball turns triple play, edges Wake Forest Cougars in extra innings."