A mix of clouds and sun. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 79F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
HURRICANE — Weston Smith has quite a streak going over his past two starts for the Hurricane baseball team.
The senior followed up a five-inning no-hitter against Riverside on April 17 with a six-inning no-hitter on Thursday in a 10-0 win over St. Albans.
Smith also collected two hits and drove in a run to help his cause from the offensive side, but he didn’t need it.
On the mound, Smith struck out 10 Red Dragons while walking two to earn the complete-game victory for Hurricane (17-3).
The two no-hitters are the first of his career.
“Everybody’s got to play a part in a no-hitter, especially the defense,” Smith said.
Thursday was no exception, with St. Albans’ Gavin Comer threatening the 11-inning no-hit streak with a deep fly ball to left field in the fifth inning.
With Hurricane holding a 1-0 lead at the time, Brady Rigney raced toward the fence at Hurricane’s Lola Meeks Field to make an over-the-shoulder grab to keep the no-hitter intact.
St. Albans (14-7) saw its two-game winning streak snapped with the victory.
“Smith’s tough,” Red Dragons coach Rick Whitman said. “He’s the best arm we’ve seen all year. He was on tonight.”
Going against Smith for St. Albans was Devon Hatfield, who gave up eight hits to Hurricane in 4 2/3 innings. Hatfield struck out five, though, and Tyler Baxter’s RBI single in the third was the only run he allowed through four frames.
In the fifth inning, Hatfield walked the leadoff batter, Bryson Shirkey, then yielded consecutive singles to Baxter and Smith. Smith’s single made it a 2-0 game.
A groundout by Aiden Ocheltree was followed by a sacrifice fly from Braylan Hutchison that drove in Baxter and made it a 3-0 game. A bunt single by Rigney that scored Smith and a single by catcher Griffin Dempsey ended Hatfield’s night.
Josiah Cochran got the final out of the inning for St. Albans, but not before he hit two batters that scored two more runs, each charged to Hatfield. St. Albans trailed 5-0 at that point.
“I thought Hatfield competed on the mound,” Whitman said. “He let the two leadoff guys get on in the two innings that they scored against him, but he competed; he pitched well.”
Hurricane scored five more runs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game by the run rule.
Hurricane coach Brian Sutphin said Smith stayed ahead in the count and used his command of multiple pitches to throw strikes.
“He was in attack mode,” Sutphin said.
Hurricane is scheduled to take on Scott on Friday, with rain and field conditions in West Madison possibly moving that game to Lola Meeks Field.
The Red Dragons are back in action on Saturday with games against Jefferson and Greenbrier East.
ST. ALBANS 000 000 — 0 0 1
HURRICANE 001 045 — 10 11 0
Hatfield, Cochran (5), Donegan (6) and Riggan; Smith and Dempsey. Hitting: (H) Baxter 2-3, RBI; Smith 2-4, RBI; Dempsey 2-4, RBI; Fleece 2-3, RBI.
Rick Elmore covers sports. He can be reached at 304-348-5122 or relmore@hdmediallc.com. Follow @ElmoreSports on Twitter/X.
