William Carey’s baseball team returned to playing ball at their home field for the first time this season last Friday.
On Jan. 21 an EF3 tornado touched down on campus and athletic director D.J. Pulley said every building on campus sustained damage.
Pulley said the light poles on one side of the baseball field fell over and there was debris from the limbs as well as shingles on the grass.
While the baseball field was being repaired, William Carey played home games at various locations. They returned home on Friday. Currently, the lights are still under repair, so they are having to play home games during the day.
Sophomore Devin Smith, a 2015 Mt. Hermon School graduate, got the start on the mound for the Crusaders against Loyola in a 21-6 win.
“It was already emotional because after basically 16 road games, we were glad to be back in front of our fans,” Smith said. “Everybody was excited about it. We were already pumped up, but when they started calling our names and the music started playing, everything just clicked. That’s probably why the score was so high.”
Smith got through a jam in the first, after Loyola had a runner at third and nobody out.
“I got on the mound. I gave up a leadoff hit. Our centerfielder dove for it and it bounced by him and he ended up getting to third. I ended up striking out the next three guys. Our pitching coach calls great pitches and that inning kind of set up the rest of the weekend for us,” Smith said.
Smith allowed a run in the second inning, but that was the only run he gave up. He finished by allowing five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
The offense gave him plenty of support. After he got through the jam in the top of the first, William Carey scored six runs in the bottom of the frame and the Crusaders answered Loyola’s run with one of their own in the bottom of the second. They added eight in the fourth and five more in the fifth to lead 20-1 by the end of the five.
They won the game, 21-6.
William Carey then swept a doubleheader on Saturday with wins of 8-0 and 10-3.
The Crusaders are 15-4 this season and have won nine in a row. William Carey is on the road this weekend, playing Middle Georgia State College for a three-game series with a game today and two tomorrow.