His name is Win Scott and win is exactly what he did on Saturday night in dominant fashion.
The starting pitcher for the Asheboro ZooKeepers tossed five perfect innings in a near flawless complete-game performance, leading the team to a 12-1 run-rule victory over the Holly Springs Salamanders at McCrary Park.
Scott, who earned the Coastal Plain League’s Line of the Night for his effort, struck out 11 batters and allowed just four hits and two walks. The 11 strikeouts were the most for a Zooks pitcher in a game this season.
The rising junior at North Carolina State University was perfect through five innings before the Salamanders led off the sixth with a double.
Scott, who was one of three ZooKeepers to make the CPL All-Star Game, said he added the slider back to his game tonight after not using it all summer. He said that pitch was the key to his success on the mound.
“A big emphasis this past week was getting the slider to work,” Scott said. “In the spring, the slider was my out pitch, so getting that back kept those guys off balance. I established that early and gave them three pitches to look for.”
After losing his perfect-game bid in the sixth, Scott said he focused on staying composed. To re-collect himself, he said he thought back to something pitching coach Josh Pike told him in his most recent outing.
“In my last start, I ended up having a balk in the fifth inning and Coach [Pike] was like don’t let a great outing turn into a good one,” Scott said. “So I really just tried to keep the composure, refocus and get back in there.”
With the Zooks up 12-1 entering the seventh, Scott remained in the game to go for a complete-game win. He walked a Salamanders batter with one-out and it looked like Holly Springs would cut into the deficit when their next batter hit a double to right field but Trey Way got the ball to Cole Laskowski, who threw out the runner trying to score at home for the second out of the inning.
Scott then struck out the final Salamanders batter and let out a huge roar and fist pump to celebrate completing the run-rule victory. Scott said he treated the seventh inning like a save attempt.
“I told myself, look, you’re coming in to close this game,” Scott said. “You’re throwing one inning tonight. You haven’t thrown at all, just come in and close, close this game and slam the door. And that’s what I did.”
While Scott was fantastic on the mound, the ZooKeepers offense was equally dynamic. Lleyton Lackey got the Zooks on the board in the bottom of the second inning with a three-run home run, his first of the season. Jacob Budzik added two more runs in the third with a two-RBI double, making the score 5-0.
Asheboro continued to build the lead in the fourth with two more runs on a Dallas Callahan sacrifice fly and a Jared Beebe fielder’s choice. The Zooks blew the game open in the fifth with a five-spot, highlighted by back-to-back RBI doubles from Owen Blackledge and Laskowski, an RBI single from Beebe and another RBI double by Todd Hudson.
The ZooKeepers finished the night with 14 hits. Seven of Asheboro’s nine starters registered at least one hit and all nine reached base at least once.
The Zooks will face the Salamanders again tomorrow night on the road at 5:40 p.m. Austin Crume and Graeme Simpson will have the radio call on Mixlr.
Written by Jacob Kisamore