Ayden-Grifton stays undefeated in ECC play, defeats North Lenoir Wednesday
Ayden-Grifton’s Conner Allen threw three innings of relief for the Chargers in their 4-2 victory over North Lenoir Wednesday. Photo by William ‘Bud’ Hardy / Neuse News
AYDEN — Last year, Ayden-Grifton would’ve folded under pressure.
The Chargers headed into the fourth inning with North Lenoir Wednesday down 2-1 and Hawks pitcher Peyton Howard left the team without a hit. After getting the first out of the inning, it seemed Howard would continue his dominance and mar Ayden-Grifton’s unblemished conference record.
North Lenoir’s Malik Dixon stole two bases in Wednesday’s contest against Ayden-Grifton, getting to the base before Ayden-Grifton’s Jackson Upchurch could make the catch. Photo by William ‘Bud’ Hardy / Neuse News
From there, four of the next five Chargers would record hits, starting with Austin Jones breaking up the no-hitter. Jordan Atkinson followed with a double, Conner Allen tied the game with a single and Aaron Pasour’s RBI grounder put the Chargers in front. Josh Harris added a run-scoring double and the tied turned, as Ayden-Grifton took the 4-2 win.
The Chargers are now 8-4 on the season and 4-0 in Eastern Carolina Conference play. A team with a history of good play — Ayden-Grifton hasn’t had a team with a losing record this decade — is looking toward taking its play to another level.
“This group has handled adversity better than any other group I’ve coached,” Ayden-Grifton coach Corey Skinner said. “We had a hurdle early on in the game and I challenged them to match North Lenoir’s intensity. They stepped up and now we’ve got great momentum heading into Friday’s game with West Craven. The goal is to be 1-0 after every game and just focus on the task at hand.”
Chargers shortstop Jackson Upchurch shared similar sentiments.
“I 100 percent agree with Coach,” Upchurch said. “We didn’t match their intensity early on and we were finally able to later in the game. We’re sitting pretty right now, but there’s a long way to go.”
Upchurch, a junior, is one of 12 upperclassmen on the Ayden-Grifton roster — including nine seniors. The team has aspirations of winning its first conference title since 2012, trying to separate North Lenoir from its ECC stranglehold. The Hawks (7-3, 1-3 ECC) have won the regular season title in the first five years of the conference’s inception.
“This was big for us,” Allen said after pitching three innings of relief. “Last year we would’ve caved under pressure, but we’ve got a lot of guys on the team who want to do better and keep working as a team.”
North Lenoir coach Jackson Massey said the Hawks have to get stronger on the offensive end, especially in the ECC. The Hawks average 3.0 runs per game compared to 10.2 runs against nonconference opponents.
“(The Chargers) were able to get quality at-bats and we didn’t,” Massey said. “Our offense has been nonexistent in conference play — in three of the four games, we had double-digit punchouts. While I’m pleased with our defense and pitching, we need to get better on the other end.”
