Big weekend extends Spinners' streak to five

Jun. 20—What a difference a week makes.

The Sanford Spinners barely held onto first place in the Old North State League's Central Division at this time a week ago, and one could argue they didn't deserve it too much, considering that they had been outscored 38-11 in two road games that weekend and dropped to 5-4 overall.

The good news is that the team hasn't lost since, and ended this weekend with a pair of road victories that gave the Spinners a five-game winning streak and the third-best record in league contests.

During the week, Sanford (10-4, 9-4 ONSL) checked off the Hendersonville Honeycrisps (3-2), the Carolina Ducks (9-5), the Oak City Gliders (15-5), and on Saturday, blanked the High Point Hushpuppies 9-0 before ending the week Sunday with an 11-9 win over the Reidsville Luckies, the team that had caused them so much trouble in the previous weekend.

The Luckies (8-9, 5-8 ONSL), the third-place team in the Central, kept pushing back Sunday after the Spinners jumped on them for a 6-0 lead in the first inning at Jaycee Park in Reidsville. After the home team pulled within 6-5 after two complete innings, the Spinners again pulled away to lead 9-5 after five and a half. Reidsville pulled to within 10-9 after eight, but Sanford added an insurance run in the ninth when Brady Nathison hit a sacrifice fly that drove in Noah Kessler. The Luckies got the leadoff man on in the bottom half of the inning, but Nathison ended the game with two strikeouts and a lineout.

Both teams hit the ball well and Nathison was the only pitcher to emerge unscathed in the high-scoring contest. He pitched the final two innings of the game for a save. Jacob Cabaniss, who had pitched exceptionally well in his last two outings, was touched for five runs in three innings of work, although he struck out five and two of the runs were unearned. Bobby Osburn, a UNC-Pembroke freshman, came in and worked four innings in the middle, allowing four runs on five hits but not allowing the Luckies to ever catch up.

The Spinners had a tremendous two-out rally in the first inning against Reidsville starter Craig Vacher, a recently graduated left-hander who is going to Guilford College. With two on and no one out, Kaden Sigmon doubled, Aaron Kimbell tripled, and then Adam Joseph, Andrew Shadburn, and Deyon Cannon all walked. By this time, it was 2-0, and then Kessler singled to double the lead. After a walk to AJ Ciaccio, Gage Bibey singled to add two more runs to the scoreboard and made it 6-0.

Although the Luckies scored three in their half of the first and then two more in the second, every time they got close, the Spinners responded.

Kessler, a 2019 Western Harnett graduate who considers Sanford his hometown, had a big day at the plate, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI. Bibey went 3-for-6 with three RBI, while Sigmon was also 3-for-6 with an RBI. Shadburn drove in three runs, while Kimbell and Joseph scored two each.

Spinners 9, Hushpuppies 0

Saturday's game looked more like a 2022 Spinners game, with the hurlers from the Brick City dominating. Sanford pitchers Chris Curler II, Jack Emacio, and Eddie Thompson combined on a four-hit shutout with eight strikeouts. Curler, from Potomac State, started and worked the first five innings for the win, while his college teammate Thompson worked the last two.

The Spinners got all the runs they needed in the first, when Cam Cole singled leading off and later scored on a two-out hit from Bibey. Like two of the pitchers, both Cole and Bibey play for Potomac State, a two-year college in West Virginia which has five members playing for the Spinners.

Not willing to let the PSC Catamounts steal the whole show, Joseph (William Peace) and Kessler (Mary Baldwin) had back-to-back singles to open the second inning and both came in to score. An error helped extend the inning for the Spinners, and Bibey had an RBI single to make it 4-0.

In the fifth, Joseph and Stephen Kriner both singled and with two out, Sigmon rocketed a ball over the right-field fence for a three-run homer and a 7-0 lead. They finished their scoring with two more in the ninth, including an RBI single by Bibey.

Cole went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, Sigmon scored twice and drove in three, Bibey was 3-for-5 with three RBI, and Joseph 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Spinners this week

There is no break this week following the weekend games, and Sanford was back in action late Monday night with a non-league game against the Greensboro Yardgoats. However, the Spinners do get Tuesday off before facing the Hushpuppies on back-to-back nights Wednesday and Thursday. Both contests will start at 7 p.m. at Tramway Park. This coming weekend will be another road trip, with yet another game against the Hushpuppies Saturday at Ed Price Field (6:30 p.m.) and then a trip to the Sandhills Bogeys on Sunday at 5 p.m. The Bogeys are just a game back of the Spinners in the division and entered Monday on a winning streak of their own.