Read up on consolation action from the second day of the 2024 National High School Invitational.

WESLEYAN CHRISTIAN 9, KEY WEST 2

Wesleyan Christian (1-1) was firing on all cylinders in its second game of the 2024 National High School Invitational as it downed Key West (0-2) 9-2 to pick up its first win of the week. Josh Hammond, who tossed six hitless innings to secure the win on the mound, and George McDonald tallied two hits apiece to combine for four of their team’s eight hits in the contest.

The Trojans got off to a hot start with three runs in the first inning. McDonald put his team on the board when he roped a two-RBI ground-rule double to the center field wall, and then Cole Bowman brought in the third run when he was hit by a pitch with the based loaded.

Wesleyan Christian added to its lead in the second and third innings when McDonald and Sawyer Black each drew bases-loaded walks to make it 5-0 after three complete. Hudson Lance tacked on a sixth run for Wesleyan Christian in the fifth inning when he brought Black home on a sacrifice fly to left-center field.

Key West’s first run of the game came in the sixth inning thanks to a Wesleyan Christian defensive miscue. Anthony Lariz scored from third on an error with the bases loaded after drawing a one-out walk to reach base.

In the seventh, the Trojans scored three more runs to help eventually seal its victory over the Conchs. Hammond belted a two-run home run over the left field wall, and then McDonald tallied his fourth RBI and second hit of the day when his single to left field drove home Lance.

The Conchs looked to spark a late rally in the bottom frame when Xavier Perez scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded, but the rally fell short as a groundout to second ended the threat.

FARRAGUT 7, HAGERTY 0

Cade O’Leary and Braylon Hall combined to shut out Hagerty (0-2) as Farragut (1-1) picked up its first win of the 2024 National High School Invitational (NHSI) presented by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance.

The first two runs of the game scored in identical fashion for the Admirals. In the top of the first, Landis Davila drew a leadoff walk before coming around to score on a wild pitch to make it a 1-0 Admirals lead. Davila then opened the third frame with a double and scored on another wild pitch to extend Farragut’s lead.

As O’Leary continued to hold Hagerty’s bats at bay, the Admirals began to pull away in the fourth. Despite the first two batters of the inning being retired, the next five hitters reached base as the Farragut advantage grew to six. A single and a walk put two runners on for Jake Merrick, who cracked a two-run triple to center field to make it 4-0. Then, back-to-back hits by Eli Evans and Michael Delph added two more runs for the Admirals to make it a six-run edge.

Gavin Brewer singled with one out and was immediately brought home on a double to left field off the bat of Mason Grube to make it a 7-0 lead in favor of Farragut. Hall then took over on the mound for the Admirals and maintained his team’s seven-run lead, working around singles in the sixth and seventh to maintain the shutout.

The top five batters in the Admirals’ lineup all picked up at least one hit in the victory, led by Merrick’s two hits and two RBIs. Brewer also notched a pair of hits for Farragut, which had nine overall knocks as a team. The Admirals also drew six walks, with Davila and Evans accounting for four of them. Hagerty was led at the plate by Max Murray, who had two of the team’s four hits. Adam Ciccone and Brandon Levy collected the other two hits for Hagerty.

APEX FRIENDSHIP 4, PUYALLUP 0

Owen Cirasole tossed a complete-game shutout to help lift Apex Friendship (1-1) past Puyallup (0-2) 4-0 on the second day of the 2024 National High School Invitational presented by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance.

Cirasole allowed just three hits and fanned five batters in route to his complete game performance, in which he needed just 85 pitches to do so. The Patriots’ offense backed him up as it tallied 11 hits, including a game-high 3-for-3 performance from JJ Vondette, en route to securing their first win of the week.

Apex Friendship got on the board in the first inning when Vondette tallied his first hit of the day with an outfield single to bring home Jentz Steiner from second after he reached on an outfield single. The Patriots scored their other three runs in the fourth inning on a pair of run-scoring singles from Steiner and Bryce Cannon. Braden Bloom led off the frame with a triple to left field, and then came home on Steiner’s base knock. In the next at-bat, Vondette doubled to put runners in scoring position and then Cannon brought in Vondette for the fourth run of the game.

ST. JOHNS COUNTRY DAY 4, CHAPARRAL 2

Jack Ensell put together a stellar complete game performance on the mound to help St. Johns Country Day (1-1) defeat Chaparral (0-2) 4-2 on day two of the 2024 National High School Invitational presented by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance. He surrendered two earned runs and struck out six batters en route to earning the win.

The Spartan offense jumped out early by scoring a run in the first inning. Kyle Boylston led off the side by reaching on an error and stealing second, and scored on Kolt Myers’ RBI single to left field.

Chaparral knotted the game at 1-1 in the third when Aidan Murphy drove in Matthew Bank with a triple up the first base line, but the score didn’t remain tied for long as St. Johns Country Day capitalized on a Chaparral defensive miscue in the fourth to eventually take a 4-1 lead. The Spartans managed to load the bases on a pair of walks and hit-by-pitch with no outs, and then a throwing error by pitcher Ryan Penney brought home two runs. Preston Cole followed up in the next at-bat with a bunt single to score the third run of the frame.

The Firebirds cut their deficit in half in the sixth thanks to Tanner Anderson’s run-scoring single to right field. The squad attempted to cut away at is deficit one last time in the seventh when Parker Halvorson led off the inning with a single to left field, but Ensell managed to keep Chaparral off the board by picking off Halvorson, catching a pop fly, and then tallying a strikeout.