BOX  |  PLAYS |  CUMULATIVE: Hagerty | Brother Rice

CARY, N.C. – Brother Rice starting pitcher Cole Van Assen tossed a complete-game gem, and the Crusaders scored five runs in the middle frames in a 5-0 victory over Hagerty High School in the opening round of the 2023 National High School Invitational presented by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance.

Brother Rice (1-0) will face the winner of the Houston County and JSerra Catholic game on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

The Crusaders chased Hagerty (0-1) starter Garrett Baumann with a three-run fourth inning and padded its lead with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Amir Gray (2-for-2, RBI) and Bryce Nevils (2-for-3) paced the Brother Rice offense out of the two and three holes in the lineup, combining for four of the team’s eight hits on the day. Aidan Nohava was responsible for the game-winning run with his two-RBI single off the third-base bag in the fourth.

Van Assen needed just 86 pitches to advance the Crusaders to the next round, striking out seven batters and walking none to pick up the victory. Baumann suffered the loss after giving up three earned runs over his four innings of work on the mound.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• Amir Gray singled and Bryce Nevils doubled to left center to put runners on second and third with one out for Brother Rice on Hagerty starter Garrett Baumann. And Aidan Nohava delivered by drilling a pitch off the third-base bag to bring them both around and take a 2-0 lead over Hagerty in the fourth inning.
• Gavin Triezenberg sent a pitch back up the middle for an RBI-single to score Aidan Nohavacap and cap a three-run fourth inning for Brother Rice.
• Lance Moon walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a single by Chris Daugherty before scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth to put Brother Rice ahead 4-0.
• Amir Gray lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score Chris Daugherty from third as Brother Rice took a commanding 5-0 lead over Hagerty in the bottom of the fifth inning.

NOTABLE INFORMATION

• Cole Van Assen got the win after a masterful performance on the bump. He struck out seven batters and walked none in the complete game, 86-pitch performance.
• Hagerty starter Garrett Baumann (0-1) gave up three runs on five hits in the loss. Topping out at 95 mph, he struck out six over four innings.
• Daniel Beldowicz surrendered two runs in 0.1 innings of relief for Hagerty; meanwhile Jeremiah struck out two and gave up just one hit in his 1.2 innings of work.
• Amir Gray (2-for-2, RBI) and Bryce Nevils (2-for-3) tallied four of the eight hits for Brother Rice on the day, joining Hagerty’s Adam Ciccone (2-for-3) as the only players with multiple hits in the game.
• Aidan Novaha’s (1-for-3, 2 RBIs) two-RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning served as the game-winning run.
• The Crusaders were aggressive on the basepaths, tallying four stolen bases on the day for Brother Rice.

ON DECK

• Brother Rice will face the winner of the Houston County and JSerra Catholic in a quarterfinal matchup on Thursday.
• Hagerty will face the loser of the Houston County and JSerra Catholic matchup in a consolation game on Thursday.

All games of the 2023 NHSI will be streamed on USABaseball.TV and @USABaseballTV on YouTube.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Stay tuned with all of the action at the 2023 National High School Invitational by following @USABEvents on Twitter and @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Fans and media can use #NHSI23 in their posts.