Mills River – West Henderson Falcons scored 16 runs in one inning in a recent victory, while surging toward a repeat Mountain Seven baseball crown and an historic sweep in the main three men’s sports in 2022-23.
West already won M7 regular season titles in football and basketball, and is the league’s reigning baseball champion. West was 21-4 in 2022, including 11-1 in league games. Winning the M7 again in baseball gives West its first conference boys’ team triple crown in history.
Several Falcons said they are determined to make history. “It’d show we’re the best (overall) athletes to ever come through here,” fiery senior shortstop Jackson Lyda said. Leadoff batter Lyda led West by scoring 19.5 points in basketball.
West (10-3; 4-0 M7) beat East Henderson (5-6; 1-3) by 15-0 on March 28, then by 14-0 in merely four innings at home on Friday, March 31. The wins sandwiched West’s 22-7 clobbering of A.C. Reynolds at home on March 29. Scoring 16 runs in one inning against ACR is likely a Falcon record. West scored 30 total runs in blanking Cherokee in 1993. West won 9-4 at ACR Monday.
Perin’s Blast
East Henderson pitching ace Reece Alverson threw a perfect game four days before facing West. He said that Falcon batters are “more aggressive” than others are. The Falcons chased the 6-foot-6 senior from the game March 28 by scoring four runs in the fifth frame.
The big blast was catcher Amani Perin’s two-run home run over the centerfield fence. “I was swinging” hard trying for a homer, the jovial junior jubilantly told teammates when getting back into the visiting dugout. Perin told the Tribune that it “felt great” to clear the fence and help put the game away.
His homer came right after Truitt Manuel singled to center, bringing home junior Jude Law. Law started the rally with a triple. Anderson tripled later in the inning, then scored as Lukas Kachilo smacked a pitch off the right field fence.
The right field line was busy on this Tuesday night. “It was deja vu all over again,” as cousins Jackson Lyda (an inning earlier) and Jude Lyda and Anderson each tripled down that line. The Lydas form West’s “keystone” combo. Second baseman Jude made multiple defensive gems.
Manuel scored the first run in the third inning. The long-striding, North Carolina State-bound junior scored on Perin’s solid double. Manuel demonstrated perseverance as a runner. He stayed alive in a rundown of a half-dozen throws. He was safely hustling back to first base, as the throw went by the first baseman.
West exploded for ten runs in the sixth inning. Perin doubled in two runs. He had five RBI in the game. Anderson, a senior, and junior Manuel each drove in two runs.
Left-handed Ryan “Kaz” Kasney earned the win with a one-hitter and eight strikeouts. The junior went 5 2/3 innings. Reliever Colin Ingle got the last out. Kasney is a first-year varsity star, reflecting how West reloads its talent.
Both teams wore star-adorned uniforms for a Military Appreciation Day.
In the East-West rematch three days later, ace Falcon pitcher Manuel and Ingle combined to no-hit East in a 14-0 shutout at home Friday. Manuel fanned six Eagles in four innings. He allowed only a walk. After a fielder’s error, Manuel picked off the runner. Ingle, a senior, pitched the last half-inning.
Anderson launched a three-run homer 390 feet to center. Jude Lyda drove in three runs. Ingle had two RBI.
West Wins 22-7!
The 3A Falcons earned a different type of salute in their very next night, with a massive offensive onslaught at home versus 4A A.C. Reynolds (6-6). Reynolds boys have their own multi-sport streak going, with MAC titles in football and basketball.
The Rockets jumped to a 4-0 lead after one inning. They led 5-1 heading into West’s half of the third inning. By then, the Rockets were laughing it up in their dugout and mocking Falcon players in anticipation of an easy win.
Instead, West roared back to triumph 22-7 — without needing a home run. West scored five times in the third inning to take a 6-5 lead.
The bottom of the fourth was historic, as West scored 16 runs. The slaughter rule requires that a team down by ten or more runs get its at-bat in at least the fifth inning. ACR scored twice in the top of the fifth, but not more. The game ended early, after four and a half innings.
Ingle knocked in four runs in the game. Juniors Grant Putnam and Jude Lyda each had three RBI.
‘Attack Mode’
The Falcons were more patient in taking pitches, Coach Corn told them after the ACR win. Perin told the Tribune that West batters were “seeing the ball” well and bunching hits together. He hustled to beat out a hit. West batters were hit by pitches six times to sustain rallies, assistant coach Anthony Lindsey noted. “You wore it.” He said about the comeback, “You took it on the chin, but you didn’t waver.”
Still, Coach Corn prefers “a complete game from start to finish.”
Kachilo-Manuel Encore
West sported WNC’s leading passing combo of Lukas Kachilo to Manuel last fall. Both play basketball and baseball, too. The 22-run explosion was if they took their aerial act to the diamond in a spring encore — with three touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
The ferocious comeback “shows we have team grit, and we can pull through situations,” said Manuel, the strong-armed and muscular junior pitcher-outfielder. Like MLB star Mike Trout, Manuel has a power-speed combo on offense and covers center field. Manuel is in right field when that side is extra deep in ballparks. He has thrown out many baserunners.
Senior Kachilo, the left fielder, is in his last athletic season as a Falcon. He said that “it’s good to beat one of the better schools around” in all sports. West was in the MAC with ACR early in Kachilo’s varsity career.
Jackson Lyda said that the emphatic win over Reynolds earns West more “respect.” He is proud that the team overcame the “wrong start.” The Falcons brought home runners much better than on March 9, when twice stranding the bases loaded in losing 4-1 to nationally-ranked 4A power T.C. Roberson.
Truitt’s 93 Swishes Thee
Manuel mostly closes games now. His velocity is 88-89 and peaked at 93 mph versus Hendersonville in the season opener on Feb. 27. He averages two strikeouts per three-out inning, with 49 in 24.2 innings. He has a 1.13 ERA and 0.69 WHIP.
Kasney (1.35 ERA) leads West with five starts. He averages more than a strikeout per frame, with 26 in 20.2 innings. Other West pitchers, in order of innings pitched, are senior Nicky Stanko (0.50), Putnam (1.56), and Ingle (1.80). The staff ERA is 1.50.
Manuel is batting .444. He leads West with three homers and 14 RBI. He scored 13 runs. Jackson Lyda is hitting .486 with two homers, 15 runs and 10 RBI. Other leading Falcon hitters are Perin (.444), Anderson (.378), Jackson Lynn (.350), and Kachilo and Bradley Clark at .333. Collectively, West bats .313.
West swept North Henderson (4-7; 2-2 M7), and edged non-conference rival Hendersonville (6-4) by 2-1 in 11 innings. West plays at HHS on Wednesday, April 12, at 6:30 p.m. at historic Berkeley Ball Park near Kimberly-Clark.