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Hickory Ridge beats Concord

By Steve Winzenread | Independent Tribune

Published: April 14, 2009

The Hickory Ridge baseball team opened the seventh annual Intimidators Classic with a 7-3 win over Concord.
Playing the first game Monday morning at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium, the Ragin' Bulls scored two runs in the opening inning and never trailed.
Hickory Ridge (7-8) plays Central Cabarrus today at 4 p.m. in the first semifinal.
"They love (playing at the stadium)," said Bulls head coach Dick Steed. "They're so excited about this."
Hickory Ridge's Cole Burnside led off the first inning with a single, and Luke Hall followed with an infield single.
With one out, Mike Zinkann was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Colten Love followed with a groundout that scored a run, then Zach Andrews hit a two-out RBI single.
Winning pitcher Blake Sides, a freshman, threw two-hit shutout ball for the first five innings.
"He's got a lot of ability," Steed said. "He's got a pretty good breaking ball and decent fastball. His changeup's pretty good, too."
In the bottom of the fifth, the Bulls scored five runs for a 7-0 cushion.
Burnside again started the rally with a single. With one out, Travis Baucom singled, then Zinkann was hit by a pitch for the second time, loading the bases.
Love's grounder wound up scoring three runs when it was misplayed both in the infield and outfield.
Andrews then contributed his second RBI single of the game and Sides added an RBI single to close the scoring.
Concord rallied for three runs in the sixth inning.
Garrett Todd and Patrick Jenkins were hit by pitches to start the inning.
After a wild pitch, Eric Brenk knocked a two-run double.
The third run scored on a delayed double-steal.
Until the sixth, the Spiders did not have a leadoff batter reach base. Brenk hit a two-out single in the first inning and Jenkins knocked a two-out single in the third. Ryan Goodman drew a one-out walk in the second.
Sides pitched all seven innings, giving up four hits. He struck out four with only the one walk.
The Bulls collected 13 hits. Andrews went 3-for-3, Hall had three hits and Burnside added two hits.
"We had 20 hits Thursday night against Sun Valley," Steed said. "I like our kids. They work hard and enjoy the game. They play hard."
Concord meets Mount Pleasant at 10 this morning.