Kerr-Vance baseball wins J.F. Webb Easter Tournament championship

In its first appearance in the J.F. Webb Easter Tournament, Kerr-Vance Academy felt right at home. The Spartans took the title with a 5-2 victory against the host Warriors Tuesday evening.

Kerr-Vance coach Todd Wilkerson had his pitchers to thank. In the tournament’s three games, the Spartans allowed just four runs. In the championship game against Webb, Kerr-Vance pitchers Jabe Montgomery, Dustin Smith and Daniel Wilkerson scattered six hits.

“I just had to hit my spots and throw the ball like we’ve been throwing this whole tournament,” said Daniel Wilkerson, who pitched the final three innings for the win. “As long as I hit my spots, I knew my defense would back me up.”

Kerr-Vance (10-2), which was “home” on the scoreboard, scraped one run across in the bottom of the third inning as Lane Humphries singled home Montgomery, who was walked two batters earlier and stole second. Smith followed up with a RBI triple to make it 2-0.

“We put the ball in play and hit the ball hard and it finally came around,” coach Wilkerson said.

Webb (8-5) scored in the top of the fourth when Zack Keeton, who singled to start the inning, stole third and advanced home on a throwing error to make it 2-1. The teams traded bases-loaded situations in the fifth inning with neither team scoring.

J.F. Webb senior third baseman Jesse Hernandez golfed a solo home run to start the sixth inning to tie the game at 2. However, Kerr-Vance scored on three bases-loaded walks in the bottom half to lead 5-2.

“Tonight was a great championship game in anybody’s book. I (attribute) our mistakes tonight to the mound, which we haven’t been able to say all year. We’ve had an outstanding pitching performance for everybody we’ve put in,” said Webb coach Mike Carroll, whose team has played close games in a tough Big 8 Conference. “Those walks tonight at crucial points hurt us.”

Webb and Kerr-Vance were the only two teams in the field to win both of their pool play games. Webb defeated Southern Vance 3-2 and Roxboro Community 12-2. Kerr-Vance defeated Franklin Academy 12-0 and Northern Vance 15-2.

Other games: Southern Vance (2-7) won the seventh-place game 9-3 against Granville Central (3-6). Northern Vance (6-4) won the third-place game 8-7 against Franklin Academy (2-9).

The fifth-place game between Oxford Prep (3-5) and Roxboro Community (4-5) was canceled, as the two teams played in the first round. Four teams each went 1-1 in pool play and Oxford and Roxboro allowed the most runs, which placed them in the fifth-place game.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 8:53 PM with the headline "Kerr-Vance baseball wins J.F. Webb Easter Tournament championship."