Thornton hurls complete game gem, Jackets roll over Raleigh

The Union Diamond Jackets capped off a three win week with a 6-0 victory behind great offense and terrific pitching on Saturday afternoon at home.

The game was scoreless after the first two innings, before Judd Young crushed a leadoff home run to start the scoring for Union. Rope Lovern singled home JT Vance and Jaylon Buckley after a misplay by the Lions left fielder to extend the lead to 3-0 after 3 innings of action.

The Jackets plated two more runs in the fifth inning on hits from Colby Casey, Jaylon Buckley, and on a wild pitch with Peyton Posey at the plate. Judd Young plated his second run of the day on a groundout in the sixth inning to push the lead to 6-0.

However, the star of the day was UHS starting pitcher Henry Thornton. Thornton made it tough on the Raleigh hitters all day long with his nasty fastball and went the distance, allowing just 4 hits and striking out 11 hitters, 9 of them by the swing and miss. Coach Joey Ward described Henry's outing, "(He) continues to improve on the mound as the season goes along and he only continue to get better going forward."

Union improves to 6-2 on the season while Raleigh drops to 3-4. The Jackets will head to the Stringer Tournament to play Newton County on Monday while the Lions will head to the NEJ Tournament to take on Wayne County.