Hanover 2, Patrick Henry 0
Outstanding pitcher's duel at PH tonight, where one error ultimately decided the game.
For Patrick Henry, UVA-bound Ches Harrington blitzed through the first 8 batters with 4 K's and 4 infield outs before Aaron Saunders lined a clean single. Saunders stole 2nd -- this became a theme, as PH's catcher threw consistently high all game and Hanover took 2nd at every opportunity. Cayman Richardson hit a hot grounder right at the 3B but he booted it into left field to allow Saunders to score. Richardson stole second. Cameron Grimes hit a one hopper that the 2B man did an ole` job on to allow a second unearned run. Grimes stole second but was then caught trying to take third by Harrington to finally end the one inning where anyone scored.
Harrington went all 7 innings. Looked like he was tiring a bit in the 7th, but managed to finish. 6 hits, all singles, three clean liners and three that easily could've been outs with reasonable defense. 10 K's, 0 walks. Threw hard with command all night, slider was a wipeout pitch, also used a slower curve and a change effectively.
For Hanover, freshman Jack Dragum was, in my first viewing of him, as advertised. You can certainly see why UVA committed to him so very early on. He's not a real big guy, at least not yet, but his MPH was only a hair behind Harrington's. I didn't have a gun but I know Harrington runs 89-91 so let's say Dragum was 88-90. Also featured a hard overhand curve that no one could hit. If you saw this guy you'd never believe he's a true freshman. Not just talented but poised and confident looking, works quickly, the whole package. If he actually improves year by year, holy crud, who knows what we'll see come his senior season in 2018.
Dragum allowed one single in the 2nd and no one else reached base in his 6 innings (8 K's). Wow. PH almost got a second hit in the sixth but CF Hayden Moore made a nice layout catch of a sinking/slicing liner to end that inning. Then Moore came in to close in the 7th and was nearly as impressive as Dragum, probably 86-88 also paired with a hammer curve.
I can't remember the last time I saw a game where there were no walks allowed by either side. If the umps hadn't shown up 35 minutes after game time we'd've been done by 7:45. PH sent only 22 hitters to the plate all game - 1 single and 21 outs. Hanover had 27 batters, with the 6 singles, 1 costly true error, 20 batted outs plus the runner caught stealing. An entire game with only 47 plate appearances combined, can't remember the last time I saw one like this!