By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

FAIRFIELD – Restoration Academy never stood a chance.

Shiloh West took the mound for the Kingwood Christian baseball Lions on April 9 and was in rare form, as he threw five perfect innings on 61 pitches, gave up no hits, struck out 10 and relinquished zero walks for the perfect game.

Kingwood needed only five innings to build a 10-0 lead and end the game early, but all the Lions really needed was one, as West controlled the game from start to finish. West struck out the first seven batters he faced over the course of the first 2.1 innings, and three over the remainder of the game. Restoration only had 15 at-bats in the game, and West retired an incredible two-thirds of them.

Kingwood knocked two runs across the plate in the first inning to build an early lead that was in itself insurmountable for the hapless home team. Moving into the fourth inning, the game was still relatively close at just 3-0 before the visiting Lions ripped off six runs in the fourth to push their lead to a comfortable nine runs. Three more in the fifth led to the game being called early.

Buddy Kittrell led the way for Kingwood from the plate with a 3-for-5 effort. Wyatt Baker, Dillon Calhoun and West each went 2-for-3 and Baker also drove in three runs while Calhoun and West both drove in one. Garrett Jones and Corey Robinson also each registered a hit in the game.

With the win via West’s effort, Kingwood moved to 18-10-2.