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By John Nolan
Assistant Director of Scouting/Content Management 

Richmond-Top-Ranked Liberty Christian Academy traveled to Richmond on Saturday to open its 2016 season in the annual private school, round-robin, Richmond Invitational. The Bulldogs’ first game was against the Steward School on a cool, overcast Saturday.

Liberty started the scoring in the first inning as sophomore catcher Wes Clarke doubled to left and was driven in by senior designated hitter Zack Hess (Louisiana State) singled to right.

The Bulldogs scored two more runs in the second inning after sophomore first basemen Austin Roach and junior shortstop Noah Cook (VMI) led the inning off with walks. Both ended up scoring on bases loaded walks and the Bulldogs nearly broke the game open, leaving the bases loaded. For more scouting information on Liberty Christian’s hitters, check the Virginia/DC Scout Blog.

Liberty Christian added three more runs in the third and two more in the fourth to build an 8-0 lead that they would then sit on. While the offense was good and gave senior starting pitcher Garret Price plenty of runs to work with, the story of the day for the Bulldogs was the dominance of their pitchers.

Price worked very efficiently, pounding the strike zone and keeping the Steward lineup guessing while tossing four scoreless innings to open the game. Price’s only struggles came in the second inning after a leadoff infield single and an error put runners on first and second with no outs. Price then got a strikeout and a double play ball to end the threat. Price set Steward down in order in the first, third and fourth innings and ended the day with a line of 4 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 5 K, and 0 BB.

Zack Hess entered the game in the fifth and picked up right where Price left off, retiring the last nine batters of the game as Steward did not have a batter reach base after the second inning. Hess worked quickly and finished with a line of 3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 6 K, and 0 BB. For velocities and scouting information on Price and Hess, check the Virginia/DC Scout Blog.

Offensively for the Bulldogs, Price finished the day 2-5. Clarke went 3-4 with a double, a walk, and an RBI. Roach went 2-2 with a walk and two runs scored. Second basemen Connor Austin went 2-3 with a double, a run scored, and an RBI.