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Sports
Massey, hot bats lead the way in Fike's 8-0 defeat of E. Alamance By Michael Lindsay | Daily Times Staff Writer The Fike baseball team could do just about no wrong. On the mound, at the plate and in the field, the Golden Demons had everything working right Friday night, as they bounced visiting Eastern Alamance from the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A playoffs with a 8-0 first-round win. "It was just a solid performance by our boys," Fike head coach Will Flowers said. "As usual, they came ready to play and you can see what happened." The Demons (19-4), the top seed from the NEW 6 Conference, scored five runs in the first inning and kept rolling behind a sparkling performance by senior pitcher Bentley Massey. Massey (8-2) pitched five shutout innings, allowing just three hits and striking out 11 -- one shy of his season high. He issued three walks, much to his disgust, including one to start the game. But, as a sign of what was to come, he struck out the next three to end the inning -- one of two four-strikeout streaks. "That feels good," Massey said with a laugh. "I really can't describe it. That's really what I shoot for every inning. I know I need to trust my defense -- and I do -- but it's always nice to strike a batter out." William Prince came on for the final two innings and was nearly as impressive, striking out five of the seven batters he faced and allowing just one hit. Offensively, Fike tallied 12 hits, including five in the first inning. David Gibbons cracked hits in his first three at-bats, finishing with three runs and an RBI to lead the Demons. Michael Brown, Michael McLawhorn and Jacob Davis also had two hits apiece. In the first inning, Fike's first four batters -- Brown, McLawhorn, Gibbons and Davis -- all singled to start the inning. After Brown scored on McLawhorn's single, Davis ripped another single to center to score two. Mitchell Wheeler and Zach Houchins later drove home two more runs, giving the Demons a 5-0 lead and the confidence to shut the door on the Eagles (5-16), the fourth seed from the Mid-State Conference. "First inning, when we jump on somebody with our offense and our pitching, it's hard to come back," said Davis, who scored Gibbons on a fielder's choice in the second for a 6-0 lead. "So, it's just good to get on top right from the beginning. " Fike pushed across two more in the fourth on an RBI double by Gibbons and a sacrifice fly by Zac Crumpler, scoring Gibbons from third for the Golden Demons' final run. Joe Craver took the loss for Eastern, allowing six runs on seven hits. He also had three wild pitches and hit one batter. "We played a really good team tonight," Eagles head coach David Pritchard said. "We didn't hit the ball, and Fike did hit the ball. They capitalized on our mistakes and hats off to them . They're a good team and played hard. Very smart baseball they played. "They came out ready to play ball, a little more ready that we were. So, yeah, they took it to us." The Golden Demons will host the winner of Western Guilford-Triton on Tuesday, looking to continue their late-season surge. "Every at-bat seems a little more important, every pitch you hold your breath a little more, and we'll see how far this thing takes us," Gibbons said. "We keep playing how we are and whatever happens happens." mlindsay@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807
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