Bristol Herald Courier | Allen Gregory | Photo Credit: BHC
CASTLEWOOD, Va. – Honaker baseball star Caden Altizer learned a trick from his head coach Derrick Murphy two weeks ago.
That slice of magic helped the 6-foot-3 sophomore right-hander fool the Castlewood Blue Devils on Friday as Honaker rolled to an 11-3 win.
“Coach Murphy showed me a new curveball,” Altizer said. “Before that I was throwing more of a slider, but now my curve is perfect and it really worked tonight.”
Altizer recorded 11 strikeouts against one walk and allowed just five hits before being relieved by Jake Rasnake with two outs in the sixth inning.
Rasnake sealed the victory by collecting three strikeouts and allowing just two hits.
In addition to the new-look curveball, Altizer relies on a fastball and slider.
The performance of Altizer on Friday was more impressive considering that a light to moderate rain fell nearly the entire game.
“I just tried to block the rain out and focus on the batters,” Altizer said. “I used the resin bag to keep the ball dry. And it helped when my teammates built a lead early.”
Altizer honed his skill set over the summer through a busy schedule of travel ball competition with the Johnson City based Team Elite squad.