Danville Post 325 falls to Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE — The same mentality Drew Kirks had during his senior season at Chatham — going all out every play — was on display Wednesday night against Martinsville Post 42.

After giving up eight earned runs and striking out nine in 6 1/3 innings pitched, he could have hung up his cleats and given up in defeat. But that’s not how Kirks plays. Never has been in his blood.

The lefty delivered a single in the ninth inning and came around to score one of the four Danville (6-7, 3-3) runs with two outs in their last at bats and Post 325 fell just short to Martinsville 10-8 at Hooker Field.

“I’m just trying to take the same momentum out of the high school ball into here,” Kirks said. “ … You still are playing for something, but it’s more laid back than it is in high school, but I still try to take the same intensity and just go hard all the time.”

It’s the same hard play that made coaches around the state notice Kirks, especially with his performance in the Group A state championship game against Gate City. His complete game, 13-strikeout performance was the icing on the cake for a season in which he was Virginia High School Coaches Association Group A First-team All-State and a first-team member on both the Region B and Dogwood District teams.

His performance Wednesday night was a minor setback after going 9-0 during the high school season, racking up 85 strikeouts in 51 innings pitched and compiling an ERA of 1.90.

“It meant a lot,” Danville first baseman and former Chatham teammate Tyler Younger said. “We knew Matt (Bray) was going to come in and be our ace and we knew we needed a second guy and he came in and stepped right in.”

Kirks, just like Wednesday night, got it done with the bat. He batted .432 — which seems low compared to the rest of the team — and added nine doubles, two triples and seven home runs. He drove 47 runs, which was second most on the team behind Gavin Hylton.

“Every time I got on the mound, I knew I had a stellar defense behind me,” Kirks said. “I think, in my mind, we had one of the best defenses in the state, which won us a lot of games. Really, I went out there just to stay in the strike zone and try to not overpower them, but just try to make them put it in play. Just try to make my defense work.”

The two games that Chatham played at Radford University in the state tournament left a lasting impression on Kirks. Even after the season and heading into the first few games of the American Legion season, he was unsure of what he wanted to do after graduation.

After he finally glided off the high of winning a state championship, it became clear that there was more baseball left for him to play.

“It was definitely a life-changing moment,” Kirks said. “It kind of, in a way, drove me further into baseball to try harder, try for something more, try to make it into college, try to make it to a World Series and stuff like that. It just kind of made me think ahead, basically. It was a great experience.”

He is heading to Danville Community College to play for Post 325 coach John Bailey, who hopes that after one or two seasons, Kirks can be headed for a high-level college team.

“He’s a two-way player and being elated (to have him) ain’t the word for it. He’s a heck of a ball player and he’s a heck of an athlete,” Bailey said. “(Chatham coach) Chad Anderson did a great job coaching him through his high school career and everything he’s been taught, he’s been taught very well. We’re just trying to keep him going in that same direction.”