Border Wars Game 1: Canes 10, Virginia Venom 5

In a game that won't be a part of the Canes all-time highlight reel, the Canes sputtered through a 10-5 win over the Virginia Venom in a six-inning game that opened Border Wars pool play. The offense raced to nine unanswered runs but then saw the advantage trimmed to 9-5 before adding an insurance run in the top of the sixth.

The lack of emotion and effort in the game led to a heart-to-heart meeting down the right field line between games. Everyone agreed more of both would be needed in the second game...which started as soon as the meeting was adjourned.

Game 1 Canes scoring plays

First inning
Gavin walked and stole second and third. Drew walked. Chace was hit by a pitch. Wild pitches scored two. Wes walked, and so did Eli. Macon drew an RBI walk. Elias worked a perfect steal of home.
Score after one-half inning: Canes 4, Venom 0

Second inning
Jake reached and stole second. Gavin walked. Chace's double scored two.
Score after one and a half innings: Canes 6, Venom 0

Third inning
Elias singled and stole second. Ty walked. Asher's double scored two. Asher scored on Jake's two-out single.
Score after two and a half innings: Canes 9, Venom 0

Sixth inning
Gavin walked and took second on a wild pitch. He stole third and scored on Chace's liner to right.
Score after five and a half innings: Canes 10, Venom 5

Pitching Performances

Chace started and fired two shutout innings.

Asher had a shutout inning.

Andrew gave way to Colin, who worked a strong inning and two-thirds before Wes finished it out.

Dugout wisdom
The fine facilities in Rocky Mount did not provide a cage for the teams to hit pregame. That left the Canes playing pepper in the middle of a soccer field. Or, as Andrew likes to call it, target practice. With a couple players in his group standing about ten feet away from him, he took a full donkey hack at the pitch, narrowly missing decapitating a couple of teammates. His explanation: "It hit the sweet spot!"

The third pitch Asher threw resulted in the Venom coach being "confined to the dugout," presumably for calling the umpire a huckleberry (old school Mavericks reference!). As the coach was debating the merits of the call and then sent packing, Drew turned to the Canes dugout and said, "This is why I love baseball."

Game 1 Web Gems

• Ty speared a liner down the first base line for the second out of the second inning.
• Colin leaped to grab a line drive in the sixth.

Game 1 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H
Canes	4	2	3	0	0	1	X	10	6
Venom	0	0	0	0	5	0	X	5	5