DOBSON — The Surry Community College baseball team is off to a good start, thanks in part to a blazing start from a freshman hitter.

The Surry Knights are 6-3, 4-1 in Region X competition. Connor Bodenhamer, a 6-foot-1 freshman from Davie High School, is tearing up pitching staffs so far this season.

Coach Jamie Lowe said when he checked the national stats last weekend, Bodenhamer was leading all junior college players in batting average.

How hot is his start? Lowe said Bodenhamer went 3-4 in a game last Saturday and saw his average slip. He currently is hitting .708 in nine games.

Two local pitchers earned wins last weekend. Austin McLamb, a Surry Central graduate, and Taylor Hull, North Surry, got the wins, while Central’s Shane Johnson manned shortstop.

The coach said most teams have played more games than the Knights, but they’ve had the misfortune of six rainouts already.

He believes this team has a good recipe of talented freshmen and experienced sophomores. After starting the season with three losses, SCC has taken six straight going into a big weekend homestand against Southeastern Community College, the team that topped the Knights in the Region X championship last season.

The three-game series takes on a little extra meaning for the sophomores, Lowe noted. They remember how Southeastern celebrated on the field after the game, then moved on to the College World Series, while Surry went home.

“If we had beaten them, we would have gone to the College World Series,” recalled Lowe.

The action begins at noon Saturday with a double-header. The first game will be a full nine-inning game, while the second will be shorter at seven innings, a common practice with double-headers, the coach noted.

Then on Sunday, the series concludes with a nine-inning game at noon.