Cape baseball wins Henlopen Conference title

Vikings fall to Caravel in make-up game

The Cape baseball squad took care of business to garner back-to-back Henlopen Conference Championships. Shown are in back (l-r) head coach Ben Evick, Barritt Ross, Brogan Evick, Brian Fleming, Trey Hitchcock, Reed Thompson, Lex Wescott, Gage Joseph, Nick Cox, Brenn Scott, assistant coaches Matt Griswold and Seth Brosius, and Jase Mitchell. In front are Miles Godwin, Luke McCarthy, Jaxon Clampitt, Timothy Hitchcock, Owen Daminger, Isaac Terhune, Merric Mumford and Brady Kosc. DAN COOK PHOTOS

Dan Cook

May 15, 2023

The Cape baseball team won its second straight Henlopen Conference championship May 12, with an 11-1 home victory over Indian River.

Cape sophomore Jaxon Clampitt went six strong innings on the mound, scattering five hits and allowing just one run. He struck out just one batter, but got steady defense from teammates who didn’t commit a single error in the field.

“I had a few rough innings today,” Clampitt said. “I also had a lot of innings where I was getting outs. My defense gave some hard D today. They came out to play and they were ready behind me. I needed to come in and throw strikes, and I did that. Our hitting was great today. We have big hitters throughout the lineup. Our guys came to play. We played 10 innings yesterday and were a little tired, but we came to play hard today. We’re going for that state ship. We need to play hard every single game.”

The Vikings had 11 hits in the game, led by catcher Brenn Scott, who delivered a three-run homer in a five-run third inning.

“It felt really good,” said the junior catcher. “It was a 2-0 count and the previous pitch was a slider out, and I was just sitting fastball and got my pitch and I turned on it. Good result.”

Lex Wescott went 1-for-1 with three walks, a double and two RBIs. Isaac Terhune went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a hit by a pitch. Timmy Hitchcock went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Jase Mitchell was 1-for-4 with an RBI. Owen Daminger went 3-for-3.

“Once Jaxon settles in, he becomes really good,” said Cape coach Ben Evick. “He had a good day against a good-hitting team. We knew today was going to be a hard one, but we put 11 hits on the board and that’s what you want to see going onto the tournament.”

Chase Ruley had a pair of hits and an RBI, while Jamison Bender had two hits to lead IR.

Vikings fall to Caravel

Cape dropped a 2-1 game to Caravel Academy May 15 in a contest that started April 8 but was suspended. The Bucs’ Tim Tyler gave up one run through five innings with 10 strikeouts in the April 8 portion of the game. He walked and later scored the winning run when the game was resumed May 13. Orvy Potts pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh for Caravel, and had a hit and an RBI. Lex Wescott had two hits and an RBI for Cape.

Cape completed the regular season with a 13-5 record. The state tournament is set to begin Thursday, May 25.