On Monday, Whitefield Academy fell 11-6 on the road at Pace Academy, but the somber feelings of teammates, coaches and fans were centered on the condition of Kevin Whitney, who suffered an injury in field and had to be rushed to the hospital.
In the fifth inning, Whitney misplayed a ball off the bat of Pace Academy’s Reade Midyette, which resulted in an inside-the-park home run. However, as Midyette crossed home plate, the coaches, players and umpires realized that Whitney still remained on the ground in pain. An ambulance was called to the school and took him to nearby Piedmont Hospital. The game was later called by school and game officials.
“Given the situation with Kevin (Whitney), there was no reason to continue this game,” said Whitefield head coach Matt Williams.
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Pace Academy head coach Charlie Owens added, “Whitefield offered to let us continue our at-bat in order to finish the inning, but there was no reason to do that since we were the home team and we already held the lead.”
The game was stopped with Pace up 13-6 and still batting in the fifth inning. However, the official score of 11-6 was based on reversion that stood after Whitefield’s final at-bat.
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In the early stages, it was a close contest. Whitefield led 3-2 in the top of second, but Pace blew the game open in the bottom of the inning, sending ten batters to the plate, drawing three walks with four hits and built an 8-3 advantage.
Pace Academy’s pitching staff was shaky at times, but did just enough to keep the Wolfpack’s bats at bay to help secure the win.
Freshmen Kameron Uter and Jared Datoc along with junior Bentley Lellyett limited Whitefield to a total of four hits, and despite giving up eight walks with six runs, Pace’s lead was never seriously threatened.
“Kameron (Uter) didn’t have his best stuff tonight,” said Pace Academy coach Charlie Owens. “He has a live arm and he’s just going to get better as the season goes along. It’s nice to be able to mix the lefty (Lellyett) in there. (Jared) Datoc is good. I’d use him more on the mound if we didn’t have to take him from the shortstop position to do it.”
Midyette finished the game going 2-for-3 with four RBI. Pace Academy freshman lead-off hitter Raphael Ramirez was 2-for-4 with two runs and two stolen bases. Datoc reached base all four times on three walks and a double.
Brian Whitney led Whitefield with a double, two walks and two RBIs.
This was the second meeting between the teams. In the first session, Whitefield topped Pace 11-10 on Feb. 24. With this win, Pace moves to 4-5 and will try to get to .500 against Westminster on Tuesday. Whitefield falls to 7-9 overall. The Wolfpack hit the road again in their next game, playing at Walker on Thursday evening.
No information was available on Whitney’s injury at deadline.
