It took a trip to the beach but the William Byrd baseball team finally picked up a win this week. The Terriers began a four game series at Myrtle Beach, SC with an 8-6, nine inning win over Saint Marie Goretti High School of Maryland on Tuesday.

Freshmen came up big in the game for Byrd, both on the mound and at the plate. Freshmen Isaac Fix and Luke Taylor pitched the first six innings for Byrd, with Isaac going four and a third and Luke going two and two thirds. Taylor was able to slip out of a seventh inning jam, and send the game into overtime, thanks to freshman thirdbaseman Seth Hodges, who made two stellar plays in the field.

Byrd trailed 4-3 after six innings but scored three in the top of the seventh to take a 6-4 lead. Hodges doubled in two to put Byrd on top and Jacob Johnson singled home Seth to make it 6-4.

In the bottom of the inning things looked bleak for the Terriers when Saint Marie Goretti tied the game at 6-6 and had the bases loaded with no outs. However, Byrd got the first out on a grounder to Hodges, who got the force at the plate. Then, with one out, the ball found Hodges again and he started a 5-2-3 doubleplay to end the inning, with freshman catcher Dylan Hatfield and firstbaseman Bryce Ellis getting the putouts.

After a scoreless eighth Ellis opened the top of the ninth with a walk, and freshman Evan Garst pinch ran. Hodges sacrificed Evan to second and Ethan Spraker walked to make it first and second with one out. A passed ball moved them over and Garst scored the go ahead run on a wild pitch as Johnson attempted a suicide squeeze. Spraker moved to third, then scored on a two-out single by Hatfield.

Matt Huber, who came on to pitch the eighth, retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to pick up the win. Huber allowed one hit and fanned three in his two innings of work.

Byrd had a season high 11 hits in the game, including three by freshman Tyler Dean. Hodges and Bryce Mullen had two hits each.

“We finally started to hit the ball,” said Byrd coach Neil Zimmerman.

That wasn’t the case last Friday as the Terriers lost to Franklin County, 5-0, in Rocky Mount. Fix had the only hit for Byrd in the loss. Dean started and pitched four innings and Spraker pitched the last two.

Byrd was scheduled to play three more games at the beach this week, Wednesday against Metrolina Christian of North Carolina, today at 8 am against Central Pageland of South Carolina and Friday at 11:30 am against Trinity Christian of West Virginia. Zimmerman had not seen any of the opponents prior to this week.

The boys return to Virginia next week, and they’ll start off with a very familiar opponent when the Blue Ridge District season begins on Tuesday. Byrd will play Lord Botetourt in Daleville.