By By Matthew Nascone
In the first battle of the Border War between Escambia County High School and Northview High School in baseball the Chiefs won, 11-3 on March 3. The second battle of 2007 ended with much of the same result, as the Chiefs won 10-0 in five innings.
"We got great pitching out of Jeff Price, Brandon Walker and Brett Hanks," NHS head coach Sid Wheatley said. "And we did enough at the plate to grab a win."
Price, Walker and Hanks combined to allow only one hit in the shutout. Price had four strikeouts in three innings pitched. Walker and Price also contributed at the plate for NHS (11-8).
Walker went 3-for-3 with a stolen base and three runs scored while Price was 2-for-2 with a stolen base and one run scored. Matt Walker went 1-for-2 with a run scored and Jared Simpson, Sean Little and Scooter Hamilton each added one run scored.
"We got some clutch hitting, which was something we have been lacking," Wheatley said. "Matt Walker and Jared Simpson did a good job of hitting with two outs and driving in some runs."
Michael Thomas recorded the lone hit for the Blue Devils, going 1-for-3 with a stolen base.
Wheatley said the win was good for his club at this time in the season.
"It was a good win for us," he said. "We have lost a couple of close games and it feels good to get a win. We need to be peaking as we enter this time of the year with our final district game on Friday and our district tournament two weeks from (yesterday)."
The Chiefs had dropped three games in a row leading up to the Border War.
ECHS faced Monroe County in Monroeville in an area game yesterday and the results will be in an upcoming Advance. The Blue Devils have a home game against Spanish Fort Friday and the first pitch is set for 4 p.m.
The Chiefs face St. Paul's tomorrow at home and the team travels to Pensacola for their final district game against Catholic Friday.