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Stephens comes through again as CHHS splits a pair with Pratville on the road

Staff

Published Tuesday, February 22, 2000

Sports Editor

The Charles Henderson High School baseball team picked up it's first loss of the season Friday, but found some redemption in a late game against Prattville.

Facing a team that was ranked 24th in the nation last year in the high school polls, the Trojans (7-1) fell 9-1 in the first game as the CHHS hitters were held to only one hit by Prattville ace and University of Alabama Signee Brandon Mims.

Charles Henderson's only hit and only run came on a Jonathan Neeley single in the first, but the Trojans were unable to get any other runners around. PHS on the other hand scored three in the second, one in the third, four in the fifth and one in the sixth to give Mims plenty of insurance.

"That's the second guy we've faced that's signed with Alabama and we had him shook up, but just didn't capitalize," CHHS head coach Steve Garrett said. "We made some mistakes in the field in that first game, which we shouldn't do because that's our game, playing defense."

The second game saw another outstanding pitching performance, this time in CHHS ace Kevin Stephens who hurled his way to 3-0 on the year.

The junior pitched his third-consecutive complete game, struck out 10 Prattville batters and allowed only two hits, both solo home runs, giving CHHS the 3-2 win. As of now Stephens has an ERA of only 1.00 and has emerged early as a tough contender on the mound for the Trojans.

Charles Henderson scored all three of its runs in the third off two straight singles by Roderick Burden and Chris Boswell followed by a double by Jason Barron. Stephens, B.J. Gralheer and Will Jones also notched singles for the Trojans.

"They've got some real talent there, we knew they would," Garrett said of Prattville. "In the second game we played errorless defense like we expect to play. I think that was a big win for our program. It just proves that we can play with anybody even when we're not hitting well."

Next up for Garrett and his squad of Trojans is a trip to Wetumpka today with the first pitch coming at 3:30 p.m.

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