By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
It’s worth pondering what might be the strongest trait – pitching prowess or batting abilities – for Southern Alamance baseball player Kaden Parker.
He has put both on display early in the season.
“I love both,” Parker said. “I can’t pick between any of them. So I’m going to stick with (doing both) as long as I can. Just trying to be a two-way.”
Parker delivered five shutout innings from the mound and a run-scoring triple at the plate when the Patriots defeated visiting Providence Grove 3-0 on Friday night.
“He’s a special hitter,” Southern coach Jason Smith said. “He wants to be a two-way guy.”
Parker was pumped for the pitching assignment.
“It was electric,” Parker said. “It was fun to do. I just got a really good rhythm.”
Parker, a left-hander, needed 77 pitches to navigate the pitching duties in his season debut on the mound. Camden Whitte-more threw two innings of relief, working out of a jam in the sixth when two batters reached base, to complete the combined four-hitter.
Providence Grove threatened, putting runners on second and third with no outs in the second inning and stranding two more runners in scoring position in the third.
Parker, who plays center field on non-pitching days, would have pitched a week earlier but a rainout nixed that. He’ll be on the mound for Friday night’s home game vs. Southeast Alamance in the Mid-Carolina Conference.
Against Providence Grove, Southern got on the board on Cooper Partin’s bases-loaded walk and Shane Rogers’ RBI groundout in the third. Parker smashed his triple in the fifth.
“I got a little bit more of it than I thought off a curveball,” Parker said. “I had to turn the wheels on so I could get (to third base).”
Other results
Southeast Alamance topped visiting Southern 2-1 in Tuesday’s home game behind Ayden Brown’s pitching. Southeast’s Tyler Jackson and Southern’s Partin hit solo home runs.
Southeast dropped a 7-1 decision to visiting Cedar Ridge on Friday. Southeast fell 3-2 at Northwood despite a solid pitching effort from Paxton Piccini.
- Southern’s Nathan McNeal and Partin handled the pitching in last week’s 6-4 home victory against Northwood, which is coached by former Southern player and assistant coach Brent Haynes. Parker hammered a long home run to right-center field.
- Williams notched its first victory of the season with an 8-7 decision at Eden Morehead on Monday. Bubba Sims scored four runs and Vince Coker had a solid pitching outing. The Bulldogs lost 5-0 to Southeast Guilford and 5-3 to Orange in road outings late last week.
- Eastern Alamance blanked visiting Bartlett Yancey 3-0 behind Conner Horner’s pitching Friday. The Eagles won 8-5 in Tuesday’s Mid-Carolina Conference opener against visiting Roxboro Person.
- Western Alamance won its first four games before Tuesday’s 5-3 road loss to Greensboro Grimsley. The Warriors won home games by 6-4 against Rockingham County and by 13-2 vs. Bethany Community last week.
- Anthony Valdez drove in four runs and Cohen Payne knocked in three runs when Burlington Christian Academy defeated visiting Caldwell Academy in five innings Monday. Patrick Triolo was the winning pitcher.
The Royals then lost 9-8 at Westchester Country Day School on Tuesday despite Valdez’s home run.
- Alamance Christian School defeated Tabernacle Christian 12-2 on Friday and Cramerton Christian 21-3 on Monday to begin the season with a pair of home victories.
