Winning baseball games for his Halifax County High School teammates is becoming something of a habit for senior leftfielder Josh Barker.

For the second game in a row Barker came up with a clutch hit to give the Comets a win, this time with a single through the middle of the infield in the bottom of the 12th inning to score teammate Tyler Duffer to give the Comets a 2-1 win over North Stafford High School Wednesday night at Halifax County High School in a semi-final round of game of the 5A North Region Tournament.

I got a good pitch to hit, Barker said with a huge smile.

I just made contact and drove the ball. I got a fastball. Thats what I wanted to hit. I went up to the (batters) box looking for a fastball to drive.

While Barkers hit in the bottom of the 12th inning was big in the Comets win, his defensive play in the outfield came up big as well. The Comets senior made a diving catch of a difficult-to-handle fly ball to get the first out in the top of the 11th inning.

Later, with the bases loaded with North Stafford High School runners, Barker made a spectacular running catch against the fence of a towering fly ball to get the Comets out of the inning.

I had to run in pretty hard to catch it, Barker remarked, but I made the play. On the second one, I caught the ball, turned around and hit the fence.

The win gives the Comets a berth in next weeks VHSL 5A State Tournament and sends the Comets on the road to Ashburn, Virginia for Friday nights 5A North Region Tournament championship game against Briar Woods High School. Game time is 6 p.m.

This marks the first time since the 2011 season that a Comets baseball team will compete in the VHSL 5A State Tournament.

Wednesday nights win was the 20th victory of the season for the Comets who improved their record to 20-2 with the win. This season marks the third time in four years that a Comets baseball team has reached the semi-final round of the 5A North Region Tournament.

Its almost unbelievable, Comets Head Coach Kenneth Day said of the win.

We just trust our kids to play for us and come through for us. Josh had great at-bats all game. We were counting on him to do it. We made the right plays when we needed to make the right plays, and our pitchers have done well year. We just continue to put faith in our pitchers.

Comets senior hurler Andrew Abbott, making his final start in front of his hometown Comets fans, struck out 15 Wolverine batters including eight of the first nine batters he faced in the game, and yielded four scattered hits and one run in his seven innings of work.

I felt really good tonight, Abbott said.

I was definitely pumped up. I knew this was a big game and that the guys were counting on me to go out there and throw strikes. We got hitting when we needed it and the defense was playing well behind me.

Drew Harlow followed, fanning six batters and allowing seven scattered hits in his four and two thirds innings on the mound. Carlton Redd went to the mound in relief of Harlow in the top of the 12th inning and faced one batter.

North Stafford High School took the early lead at 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning, which started with a single by Elliot Blake. Justin Cherry reached base on a Comets error and a double by Dawson Sims scored Blake to give North Stafford High School the early lead.

The Comets tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning when Harlow walked with one out, moved to second base on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Brayden Moore to make the score 1-1.

For the next six and a half innings the game remained scoreless, with the Comets turning back possible scoring threats when the Wolverines had two runners on base with just one out in the top of the 11th inning and had the bases loaded with two out in the top of the 12th inning.

The Comets threatened to end the game in the bottom of the 10th inning when Eric Brandon, running for Holt Powell who had opened the inning with a hit, attempted to score on a hit by Barker. Brandon was tagged out at the plate by North Stafford High School catcher Kevin Ledford after taking a throw from rightfielder Samari Broven, ending the inning.

Halifax County High School had seven hits in the game, with Barker leading the team with two hits. Abbott, Clay Lloyd, Duffer, Powell and Moore had a hit each.

The Wolverines had 11 hits in the game with Sims leading the team with three hits. Blake, Ledford and Vince Munoz had two hits each. Logan Sanders and David Miller had one hit each.

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Comets top North Stafford HS 2-1 in 12 innings; punch ticket to state ... - YourGV.com