🍀 Non-League Game | NANT @ Reidsville Luckies 🍀
I thought it would last longer than seven innings. Mercy rule, shutout.
The Reidsville Luckies are still undefeated.
Calvin Keesler and Myles Odom each had breakout performances on the offensive side of things, leading the Luckies with three hits. Keesler’s overall numbers were 3-for-6 with a double and four runs batted in. Also, Tyler Sorrell got some time again, while Cal Nielsen got to make his first start behind the plate.
Keesler’s performance is especially exciting, as he aggravated a hamstring injury in that Luckies-Sammies exhibition game at the start of the season. Keesler told me yesterday that he was feeling great after getting a good night’s rest, and that he was feeling really good about playing in today’s game. He delivered on that promise, and the coaches and scouts back up at St. Olaf had to be happy with this performance.
Looking at the box score, the game was kind of unfair. After four innings, the Luckies were up six runs to zero, and in the seventh, they popped off four more runs to end the game. The last time the Luckies won in a ten to zero shutout was the bittersweet last game of the 2023 season against our arch rivals, the Sandhills Bogeys.
If you were a pitcher, it was a good night to stat pad. Connor Riggs, the southpaw from Wesclin, Illinois, allowed just one hit in his first two innings, striking out five, in his best game as a Lucky. Malik Frails, Hodgkins lymphoma survivor, struck out two batters and allowed no hits in the third inning. And to finish off the game with four innings of work, the do-it-all pitcher who led his team in doubles and also struck out twenty-five batters at Morehead, Lucas Brooks, entered the game. Brooks only gave up three hits, earning the win in his appearance.
The Luckies just keep on rolling, and I believe it has something to do with Chenzo Scanio. In Chenzo’s first year, he was able to get the feel of summer baseball in Rockingham County, learning the ins and outs of the Old North State League, and heading into his second year, he made the necessary adjustments, bolstering his pitching staff and getting a ton of offensive talent. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about this Reidsville Luckies team, but the two main ones are that Chenzo is at the helm and the team is well-constructed.
Extra Bases
I grabbed an interview with Zachary Cimino, former Moment of the Game winner who redshirted as a freshman at Mars Hill in 2024.
Again, if you have any questions you would like for me to ask a player, send it to me via direct message, email, or drop it in the comments below.
Extra Bases
Maddox King and our Tampa University Spartans defeated the University of Indianapolis, 9-3. They advance to the winner’s bracket, and they are now two wins away from a championship appearance!
On-Deck
I’m still riding that high from Ryne Rodrigues’ walk-off home run yesterday, and on Wednesday, Joe Dexter and I will be interviewing Rodrigues on the second-ever episode of our podcast, the Luckies Insider.
Also, some of you may not know this, but I commentate with Andy Durham and the Greensboro Grasshoppers on Thursday nights, so feel free to tune in on Thursday at 6:30 on https://www.milb.com/greensboro/fans/audio-listen-live.
On Friday, the Luckies travel to Flaherty Park for their first-ever game against the Wake Forest Fungo. This game is very important, as only divisional games count in the standings right now, and the hot start by the Clayton Clovers
On Saturday, our Luckies come back to Lucky City for a non-league game against the Carolina Yankees, and on Sunday afternoon, Reidsville will play the High Point Hushpuppies in another division rivalry game at JC Park.
Let’s end this thing with something lighthearted. If you click “No” on the below poll, I will manually unsubscribe you from the Luckies Ledger.