Wrapping up a three game home stand, the Hargrave Tigers played host to the Ospreys of Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy. After 5 strong innings of play, the Tigers picked up their second win of the week with a 14-4 victory moving their overall record to 2-4 on the season.
Three games in four days isn’t easy at the Major League Baseball level, let alone the high school level but Head Coach Frank Thomas had his young Hargrave squad ready to finish out the week strong. Coach Thomas sent 8th Grader Teddy Hoffman (Boca Raton, FL) to the mound for his first career start and Hoffman did not disappoint. After giving up a pair of early runs, Hoffman settled in to strike out the last two Osprey batters he faced to finish out the frame.
In the bottom of the second inning, Hoffman got some run support as a 3 run rally was kicked off by Senior captain and catcher Burke Beales (Richmond, VA) legged out an infield single and came around to score after a number of passed balls and wild pitches. With momentum on their side, Hoffman stepped up to the dish with two men on and ripped a single back up the middle plating those runners and giving the Tigers a 3-2 lead, a lead they would never relinquish.
The Tigers scored runs in the final four innings of action with some disciplined hitting from Aidan Allen ’22 (Goochland, VA) and some timely RBI base knocks from Dean Friedburg ’25 (Virginia Beach, VA). The final frame, the bottom of the 5th inning, proved to be the dagger as the Tigers loaded the bases with nobody out and wound up plating eight runs en route to the 14-4 victory. Hoffman, Beales, and Friedburg all tallied two hits a piece for the Tigers.
In a great team performance, Hoffman was absolutely the shining light. On the mound, this young man was able to battle through adversity and work his way through a number of jams as the Ospreys were only able to amass four runs on four hits. Hoffman finished his outing on the mound with six strikeouts and his teammates behind him played a great game in the field, particularly Allen who made a number of outstanding defensive plays.
The Tigers kick off a long stretch of road games next week as they make their way up to Lynchburg, VA to take on the Bishops of Virginia Episcopal School. First pitch is slated for 4:30 PM.
