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By Jon Kaufman
Contributor

Home field advantage can be a powerful benefit for any high school team. Saturday, the Cave Spring Knights, boosted by a large loud fan base, conquered the Christiansburg Blue Demons in a hard fought 5-3 conference victory.

Cave Spring RHP Justin Larkin was off to a shaky start right from the get go.  A wayward curve ball struck the back of Demons lead-off hitter Ashton King, adding a dangerous baserunner early. One of the finest runners in the area, King stole second, advanced to third on a ground ball by Nick Carroll and scored on Alex Perkin’s infield single to post an early one run lead. In inning two, a base on balls and a two out double by Alex Hylton provided a nice 2-0 cushion for Demons starter Alex Perkins.

Cave Spring quickly countered with a run in the bottom of the second. Jaret Furrow blasted a single to left field, stole second base and moved on to third on a botched pick off. Junior catcher Stephen Cacciatore lifted a long fly to right, scoring Furrow and cutting the Demons lead in half.

Issac Yeaman’s opposite field double in the third bumped the Knight’s lead to two runs while Larkin continued to shut down the Demons scoring machine, striking out seven in the first five innings and scattering just five hits.

Furrow opened the fourth with a double, a wild pitch and a clutch sacrifice fly by Caleb Wetzel. The Knights kept it rolling in the fifth when Yeaman walked, stole second, and scored on Connor McCarthy’s gap seeking double. Jordan Stovall ripped a double of his own to vault Cave Spring to a commanding 5-2 lead.

Christiansburg’s RHP Perkins boomed a home run over the left-centerfield fence in the top of the seventh, however, the bomb was too little too late. Perkins pitched a complete game in the loss, striking out nine and walking one. Larkin went all seven innings for the Knight’s and tamed the Demons this afternoon with pinpoint control.  Leveraging a sweet change-up, curve and 77-79 mph fast baseball, Larkin is a smart, calm hurler with a strong young Cave Spring team.