Green Hope lost in the 1st round of the state playoffs to Richmond County 4-0 in a game that was marked by a VERY long rain delay. Friday the 13th was a frustrating night for the Falcons to say the least, as several miscues in the first inning and aggressive baserunning by Richmond County led to 4 runs. Green Hope outplayed the Raiders the rest of the game, but could not push a run across.

For the game, the falcons had several more baserunners that Richmond and outhit the Raiders 7-5. Green Hope could not come up with the big hit, though, and left the bases loaded twice (once after they were loaded with no outs). Stephen Pitarra led the Falcons with 3 hits, while Anthony Colantino and Nick Addona each doubled.

The game was delayed a couple hrs in the bottom of the 6th due to a long thunderstorm. After much work on the field, the game resumed and Green Hope promptly loaded the bases, but could not score.

While it was a tough loss, 2011 was a successful year for the Falcons. Best of luck to the seniors as they prepare for graduation in a few weeks.

Congratulations to the Falcons for finishing their regular season with a convincing 11-4 win over Cary to sweep the Imps on the year. The Falcons did allow their first earned runs in 6 games when Cary hit a 2 run homerun in the 4th, but Green Hope pounded out 16 hits and jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the 4th.

Leading Green Hope with 2 hits each was Nick Addona, Anthony Colantino, Stephen Pitarra, Smith Prevost, and Tyler Jones. Will Gilbert, Daniel Sondag, and Jonathan Grudee combined for the win on the mound.

The win was the 10th in 12 games for the Falcons and locks up at least a share of 3rd place in the conference.

It was a rough Senior Night for Green Hope as Holly Springs avenged their own Senior Night defeat to the hands of the Falcons last year with an 11-3 win. Justin Manning scattered 7 hits for the Hawks and did not walk a batter. Nick Addona and John Hardin each had 2 hits for Green Hope.

Max Povse did not have his best stuff and Holly Springs brought their bats, but in yet another game this year, the story was unearned runs. Green Hope made 4 errors and all 11 runs were unearned. 2 errors in the 2nd helped lead to 7 unearned runs to put the game out of reach early.

Green Hope finishes the regular season schedule Wednesday with a make-up game at 6:00 at Cary.

Green Hope went to Apex ready to play Friday night and came away with a convincing 8-0 win over the Cougars. Green Hope outhit Apex 10-3 and in only the 6th inning did Apex threaten to score. The Falcons were led again by pitching, as Will Gilbert threw 6 innings of 3 hit, 0 run, 5 strikeout ball and Daniel Sondag finished by striking out the side in the 7th.

Offensively, everyone on the team contributed with 9 different players getting hits and 6 players driving in runs. Anthony Colantino was the only player with 2 hits (including a double) and Nick Addona hit his 1st career triple, as he drove in 2 in the 3rd and missed hitting a homerun by inches.

The Falcons secured a playoff spot with the win and have now won 9 of 10 games heading into the final week of the regular season. Next up is Holly Springs at 7:00 Tuesday at Green Hope.

The Falcons kept things rolling with a huge 3-0 win over what had been a red-hot Fuquay Varina team. Max Povse was pitching on short rest, did not have his best stuff, and took a line drive off his shin, but battled through it all to throw 5 shut out, 3-hit innings. Daniel Sondag completed the shutout by earning the save with 2 perfect innings of relief.

Offensively, Green Hope did just enough. Yet again they had many hard-hit balls that were hit right at people early in the game and managed only 5 hits overall. In the 4th inning, though, they broke through as John Hardin and Will Yoder each came through with 2 strike hits to drive in the three runs.

Defensively there have not been as many shining moments this year for the Falcons, but that changed Tuesday. Taylor Waters made a highlight reel play as he made a diving play to save a run and end a threat in one inning and then Jonathan Grudee robbed an extra base hit to begin the 7th as he made another web gem with another all-out diving play. Grudee also led the team with 2 hits at the plate.

Next up for the Falcons is a big game at Apex Friday night.

The Falcons wrapped up a successful tournament by defeating the host school, Southern Lee, 8-1 in a dominating performance over a solid team. Green Hope allowed only 4 hits and not especially hard hit ones at that. The team played solid defense again led by Nick Addona at 3rd base as he made several very difficult plays.

Offensively, Green Hope had 9 hits and only Stephen Pitarra had a multiple hit day with 2. The hits were spread out across the lineup. Senior Jon Grudee and freshman Thomas Yoder each belted deep homeruns to lead the attack. While Green hope had 38 hits in its 3 games, pitching may have been the bigger story. The Falcons allowed 1 earned run in the 3 games and 13 hits. 4 of the 13 hits allowed were infield hits and 4 others were bloops or “excuse-me” hits. Pitchers Daniel Wegandt, Justin Allen, Anthony Colantino, Max Povse, Keith Walsh, Will Gilbert, and Daniel Sondag kept hitters off balance and seemed to control the games.

In going 3-0 in the tournament, Green Hope never trailed and got contributions from everyone up and down the roster. Now it is time for the final stretch, as the Falcons have a big week ahead with conference match-ups against Fuquay Varina and Apex.

Green Hope held off a stubborn Surry Central team 7-2 in the first game of two Saturday at Southern Lee High School. Smith Prevost, John Hardin, and Anthony Colantino each had 2 hits in the win, but Colantino was the story in this game. He threw 3 shutout innings then did a great job behind the plate for the remainder of the game and added a triple and a double at the plate.

Colantino, Max Povse, and Keith Walsh combined to allow no earned runs, strike out 10, and allow only 4 hits. Walsh came into the game with the tying run on 2nd in the 6th and 1 out and closed the door the rest of the way to earn the save.

Offensively the Falcons had 11 hits, but in yet another game, most of the outs were “loud” outs as they hit the ball hard all game long.

Green Hope got back on the winning track with an easy 15-1 win over Grace Christian in the 1st round of the Chatlee Boat and Marina Invitational. The game was delayed an hour and a half and moved to Grace Christian School, but the Falcons were ready to play.

Green Hope scored 5 runs in the top of the 1st and the inning was highlighted by Jonathan Grudee’s 3-run homerun. Grace Christian scored 1 run in the bottom of the 1st, but Daniel Weygandt settled down in his 1st varsity appearance, pitching 4 solid innings to earn the win. Green Hope would score 6 runs in the 2nd and 4 more in the 4th. 21 players contributed to the win and the offense pounded out 18 hits. The offense was led by Justin Allen (3-3 2 RBI), Grudee (2-2, HR, 4 RBI), Daniel Sondag (1-2, HR, 3 RBI), Stephen Pitarra (2-2 RBI), Jonathan Newbold (2-2 RBI), and Tyler Jones (2-2). Allen also pitched a scoreless 5th in the mercy-shortened game.

Next up for the falcons is a 1:00 game against Surry Central at Southern Lee H.S. Friday.

After playing 4 good games, Green Hope went back to its old habits for a bit: costly errors in key situations and not getting the big hit when needed. Max Povse and Chris Williams engaged in a classic pitcher's duel that was won in the bottom of the 9th by Athens 1-0.

Povse only allowed 2 hits and struck out 10 in 7 innings and only had one ball hit hard off him. Williams struck out 5 in 9 innings and allowed 7 hits and several hard hit balls, but his defense played well behind him. Smith Prevost led all hitters on the day by going 4-4. In the end, though, Athens won in the 9th by scoring one run with 2 outs through the following formula: 2 errors, 1 infield hit with no one covering 1B, a wild pitch, and another infield hit.

Green Hope heads into the break still needing a couple wins to secure a playoff spot. For the last time, though, they leave conference play for a 3 game tournament at Southern Lee HS and will face Grace Christian, Surry Central, and Southern Lee.

On Saturday Green Hope extended its winning streak to 4 at the beautiful USA Baseball complex in Cary. It was not easy by any means, though, as the Falcons edged Panther Creek 4-3 by scoring 3 in the top of the 7th.

Panther Creek seemed to be focused today and hit the ball hard all afternoon. 2 Green Hope errors in the 3rd gave the Catamounts a 2-1 lead they would hold into the top of the 7th, as Panther Creek’s Daniel D’Elia kept the Falcons off balance.

Green Hope would hardly threaten from the 2nd inning on, but Keaton Derks started the 7th with a pinch hit single. After a fly out and a stolen base, John Hardin walked (on the 2nd PC walk of the day) and freshman Stephen Pitarra ripped a double to tie the game. Nestor Gomez then smashed another double to score 2 and put Green Hope up 4-2. In the bottom of the 7th, Panther Creek managed to score a run, but a Gomez-Pitarra-Povse double play ended the game. Daniel Sondag earned the win with 4 innings of solid relief on the mound.

Next up for the Falcons is a road trip to Cary High School to face the Imps on Tuesday.

This week it appears the Green Hope pitchers are playing a game of “can-you-top-this.” Max Povse and Daniel Sondag combined for 22 strikeouts and 2 hits with no walks Monday and Thursday Will Gilbert responded with a 10 strikeout, 1 walk, 5 hit complete game 8-0 shutout of Lee County. So, here is the combined stat line for Green Hope pitchers so far this week: 32 strikeouts, 1 walk, 7 hits, and 1 run allowed. Not bad…

Beyond the pitching performance Thursday, Green Hope played flawless defense behind Gilbert, highlighted by Anthony Colantino not letting anything past him behind the plate and John Hardin’s diving play to keep a ball in front of him and then getting up to throw the runner out at 3rd.

On the offensive side, the Falcons had 8 hits, took advantage of 8 walks, and had several sharp hit balls for outs. Hopefully the bats are starting to come around.

Next up for Green Hope is Panther Creek at USA Baseball at 1:30 Saturday.

Green Hope pulled out a huge win in the bottom of the 11th 2-1 over Middle Creek. The game was one of the better games in Green Hope’s history and, while it was a low-scoring affair for both teams, it was dominated by the Green Hope pitching staff.

Max Povse tied a school record with 18 strikeouts (1 hit and no walks) in his 8 innings of work, but set the school record with 15 strikeouts through 7 innings. Daniel Sondag earned the win allowing only an infield hit and striking out 4 more Middle Creek hitters (no walks either). The 2 combined for a school record 22 strikeouts in a game.

Middle Creek rarely threatened most of the game, but Green Hope pitched out of a couple situations. Middle Creek’s lone run came on an opposite field homerun by Will Fuller for Middle Creek. Green Hope, on the other hand, missed several opportunities to score (and had 10 hits to Middle Creek’s 2), but Nick Addona drove in Will Yoder with the tying run in the 5th. After several tense moments, Nick Addona again came up big. With 2 outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th, Nick hit a smash to a deep 1st baseman, but Nick beat the pitcher to the bag and John Hardin scored the winning run.

The Falcons looked to continue the success when they play at Lee County Thursday in another huge conference game.

Green Hope ended its 4 game losing streak Saturday at Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville. It was not a pretty game by any means, but “a win is a win” as they say.

Max Povse pitched 1 inning, Will Gilbert pitched 2 innings, Keith Walsh 3 innings, and Daniel Sondag 1 inning. Keith Walsh picked up his first varsity win in his first action on the mound. The staff was hurt by three errors again in the infield, but aided by good outfield defense, highlighted by a great diving catch in right field by Tyler Jones.

The offense did not exactly hit the ball hard all day, but did just enough. Anthony Colantino led the offense but going 3-3 with 4 RBIs, including hit a 3-run homerun to break open a 6-5 game in the 6th inning.

Overall this was a good game for the Falcons to shake the rust off, for everyone to play, and for the team to use to get ready for a return to conference play Monday against Middle Creek at 5:00.

Tuesday’s game against Durham Jordan followed the same pattern that has become all too common as of late for the Falcons as they lost again 4-1. Green Hope pitched well, but did not play solid defense and could not come up with the timely hit. In the past 4 games Green Hope has scored 10 runs and made 11 errors.

In the game Tuesday, Anthony Colantino, Jonathan Grudee, and Daniel Sondag pitched well enough to win combining to strike out 7 and allow two earned runs, but Green Hope managed only 3 1st inning singles against several Jordan pitchers.

If the bad weather holds off, Green Hope will return to conference play against Athens Drive Thursday at 4:00 at Athens.

***As a side note, without going back through all the books, this is believed to be Green Hope’s 1st 4 game losing streak since the school first had grades 9-12 in 2002.

Holly Springs won a pitcher’s duel over Green Hope 3-2 Thursday night. With many scouts in the stands to see Hawks’ pitcher Carlos Rodon, Will Gilbert nearly matched him pitch for pitch.

Rodon helped his own cause in the bottom of the 4th with a bllop single to score 2 and give Holly Springs a 2-0 lead. Rodon was relieved in the 6th and the Falcons managed to plate 2 unearned runs after a Holly Springs error, but left the bases loaded and the game tied at 2.

After turning a double play in the bottom of the 6th, Green Hope gave a gift run to the Hawks when a 2 out double was misplayed in the outfield allowing the runner to go to 3rd and the throw towards 3rd was a bad one allowing the runner to score. 2 key errors again cost the Falcons the game, as the final score ended at 3-2.

Rodon finished with 8 strikeouts and 2 hits allowed in 5 innings, but Justin Manning earned the win with 2 innings of 2-hit, 2 strikeout relief. Gilbert threw 6 innings, allowing 4 hits and striking out 12. John Hardin was the only hitter in the game with multiple hits, going 2-3.

Green Hope has been out-hitting its opponents and in many ways outpitching its opponents, but for the second year in a row defense has been the team’s Achilles heel. They hit the halfway point at 4-4 in conference, but will need to start to put together more all-around efforts in order to make a run at the playoffs. After the long weekend, the falcons are scheduled to play an undefeated, non-conference opponent in Durham Jordan at 4:30 Tuesday.

Green Hope and Apex battled late into the night Tuesday with Apex prevailing 5-4 in 8 innings. Yet again, Green Hope did many things well and outhit an opponent, but could not quite pull it out in the end.

Green Hope went up 1-0 in the 1st and scored 2 more in the 2nd after Apex tied it in the top of the 2nd. The Falcons held a 3-1 lead into the 6th, but 2 errors cost 2 runs to tie the game at 3. In the top of the 8th, Apex scored 2. Green Hope responded with 1 in the bottom of the 8th, but could not pull it out in a wild 8th inning.

Green Hope outhit Apex 12-7, but could not come up with the clutch hits. Max Povse threw well again striking out 11 in 5 innings and Daniel Sondag pitched the last 3 and was hurt by some bad luck and fielding miscues.

Anthony Colantino led Green Hope with 3 hits, Nick Addona had 2, Smith Prevost had 2, and Nestor Gomez had 2.

Green Hope plays Thursday night at 7:00 at Holly Springs.

Before Friday night’s game between Fuquay Varina and Green Hope at Fuquay it appeared as though the teams were set to have another of their classic battles, but in the end, Fuquay’s experience, composure, and ability to play errorless baseball allowed them to cruise to the win 6-3.

Jonathan Grudee started the game off with a bang, homering on the first pitch. In the bottom of the 1st, the Falcons gave 2 unearned runs right back to Fuquay with a 2 out error. Green Hope tied it in the 2nd when Will Gilbert blasted a homerun, but then allowed a runner to take an extra base (who later scored) after a base hit in the bottom of the 2nd and Fuquay had another unearned run. Green Hope then scored 1 in the top of the 3rd, but gave 3 right back to Fuquay with 2 hit batters, an error, and a walk in the bottom of the 3rd. The game would remain scoreless the rest of the way.

Overall, two good teams played Friday night and Green Hope managed to out-hit Fuquay 6-5, but the difference was the mistakes Green hope made. Green Hope hit batters, walked batters, and made 4 errors while Fuquay played errorless baseball and made 2 diving plays in the field to rob Green Hope of hits.

Green Hope looks to get back on track Tuesday when they host Apex.

Congratulations to the Falcons for defeating Panther Creek 6-1 Tuesday and ending a 3 game losing streak to the Catamounts. Max Povse cruised to the win, allowing 2 hits, no runs, and striking out 7 in 5 innings, while Daniel Sondag finished up the last 2 innings on the mound.

Green Hope scored 1 in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, 1 in the 5th, and 2 in the 6th. The Falcons stole 6 bases, pounded out 9 hits and had several “loud” outs. Anthony Colantino and Jonathan Newbold led the way with 2 hits apiece.

Next up for the Falcons is a match-up at Fuquay Varina Friday night at 7:00.

Green Hope and Cary endured cool weather and a soggy field for their game Friday afternoon. The Falcons prevailed by pounding out 16 hits and getting good pitching from Will Gilbert, Jonathan Grudee, and Daniel Sondag. The 3 pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts to lead the Falcons to a 12-3 win.

Green Hope jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st and cruised to the win. 17 players contributed to the victory, including 5 freshmen and sophomores. Gilbert earned the win with 4 solid innings of work. While he did not seem to have his normal control, he still finished with 9 strikeouts, 0 earned runs, and only 3 hits allowed. Grudee was touched for a solo homerun in the 5th, but had a 1-2-3 6th and Daniel Sondag struck out all 3 batters he faced in the 7th.

Offensively, Green Hope was led by freshman Stephen Pitarra (3-3, 2 2Bs, 4 RBI), Tyler Jones (3-3, RBI), John Hardin (2 hits), Jonathan Newbold (2 hits, RBI), Anthony Colantino (2-3 3B, 2B, RBI), and Nick Addona (3 RBI).

The Falcons next play at home against Panther Creek on Tuesday at 4:30.

The Falcons lost a pitchers duel 2-0 to Lee County and Dillon Frye on Tuesday. Frye had a perfect game into the 7th which was broken up by Jonathan Grudee. The Falcons had runners on the corners in the 7th, but failed to score.

Lee County got a run in the 2nd on a 2 out balk and a run in the 3rd. Frye finished the game allowing 2 hits, striking out 8 and only walking one batter.

For Green Hope, Max Povse struck out 12 in 5 innings, hit a batter, and walked 1. Daniel Sondag followed Povse on the mound and threw 2 no-hit innings and struck out 3.

Overall, Lee managed 4 hits, while Green Hope had only 2. Green Hope actually hit the ball harder at times, but it was not meant to be as balls were hit right at fielders and Lee made all the plays. The Falcons are in action again Friday night at 7:00 against Cary at home.

Green Hope put it all together Friday night vs. Middle Creek. The Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning then played errorless baseball behind junior Will Gilbert winning 9-0. Will tossed 6 shutout innings allowing 2 hits and striking out 6 before Daniel Sondag finished the game out in the 7th. Tyler Jones made several good plays in rightfield, Jonathan Grudee made a great diving play in leftfield and Jonathan Newbold had an assist from centerfield cutting a runner down at 2B. The infield of Nestor Gomez, Luca Scelsi, Nick Addona, and Max Povse played very well and Anthony Colantino did not let anything get by behind the plate.

Offensively, Colantino started things by crushing a triple to right center in the 1st inning scoring Newbold. Colantino then was driven home by Smith Prevost's infield groundout. The Falcons added 2 more runs in the middle innings before breaking the game open with 5 in the top of the 7th.

Next up for the Falcons is a home game Tuesday night vs. Lee County.

After taking a 2-0 lead over Leesville Road in the top of the 1st, the game quickly turned into one of the worst in Falcons’ baseball history. The team made error after error on routine plays and allowed 14 unearned runs in the first inning followed by 3 more unearned runs in the 2nd inning. The game consisted of few Falcon highlights, but Justin Allen did make a great play at 3rd base to end the 4th inning and Justin and Tyler Jones did a good job on the mound in relief. The team managed 7 hits and a couple of hard hit outs, but only Anthony Colantino had 2 hits (including an rbi 2B).

As a side note, since the conference went to 9 teams and started playing conference games the first week of the season it makes these non-conference games mixed in difficult games. Leesville, for instance, does not play a conference game the first three weeks of the season. The Tri-9 teams, on the other hand, need to save pitching for the conference games since they determine the playoff bids. Without question it is a better situation to have the non-conference games before the conference portion of the season so teams can figure out their best line-up, but that is the hand the Tri-9 has been dealt. Now it is time to get focused as Green Hope begins a string of 7 straight conference games.

The Falcons pulled out a hard-fought 3-0 win over Athens Drive Tuesday in a pitching duel between 2 of the conference’s top pitchers. Max Povse for Green Hope struck out 10 and allowed 3 hits over 6 innings, while Chris Williams for Athens struck out 9 and allowed 4 hits over 6 innings. Daniel Sondag pitched a scoreless 7th for Green hope to earn the save.

Green Hope managed to break a scoreless tie in the bottom of the 5th when Jonathan Grudee singled home Nestor Gomez with 2 outs. Nick Addona then followed with a hard hit ball to left that the leftfielder slightly misplayed into a 2 RBI double. Athens managed to load the bases in the top of the 6th, but could not score.

While it was an important early season victory, there was a negative aspect to the win for the Falcons. Will Yoder, the team’s leading returning hitter, was injured in pregame warm-ups with a possible broken nose and Will Gilbert, one of the team’s top pitchers was injured in a collision with a runner while playing 1st base (for the injured Yoder).

Congratulations to the Falcons for their 4-3 win over South Johnston in the team’s final scrimmage. The two teams were evenly matched and both teams appear to have several effective pitchers. Green Hope was down 3-2 entering the bottom of the 7th, but did not give up. Jon Grudee walked to lead off the 7th. He proceeded to steal 2nd, 3rd and home as part of a double steal to tie the game. Jonathan Newbold was then driven in from 2B on a deep fly ball hit by Will Yoder when the right fielder and center fielder nearly collided.

The 4 Falcons pitchers threw strikes and combined to strike out 11 batters, led by Max Povse’s 5 strikeouts in 2 innings

The scrimmages at Pine Forest went pretty well overall.

• Green Hope 3 New Bern 0
• Green Hope 3 Pinecrest 2 (PC went ahead in the top of the 4th, but then the game was called early before Gh got to hit in the bottom of the inning, so the score goes back to the previous inning)
• Green Hope 5 Pine Forest 2