Kings Mountain pitching limited Bladen County to only three hits en route to a 14-3 victory Tuesday night in a Dixie Boys State Tournament game played in Southport.
Kings Mountain turned a hit and two walks into a 1-0 first inning lead.
Josh McKoy cracked a lead-off single in the bottom half of the first for Bladen County but was thrown out attempting to steal second base. Kings Mountain retired the next two Bladen County batters to maintain the 1-0 lead.
After two outs in the top of the second, Kings Mountain used three hits and three walks to put four runs on the board for a 5-0 lead.
With one out in the Bladen County second, Jake Butler blasted a ball to deep left field that the left fielder could not handle. Spencer Scott’s ground ball advanced Jake Evans, who was pinch running for Butler, to third base.
Consecutive walks to Holden Clark, Eric Chancey, and Jay McKoy plated Evans with the first run of the night for Bladen County to trim the lead to 5-1 after two innings.
Kings Mountain added one run in the top of the third inning on a walk and a single.
With one out in the third, Greyson Heustess smashed a double to deep left center field for Bladen County but was stranded after the next two batters were retired.
Neither team had a runner reach base in the fourth inning, but Kings Mountain scored three runs in the fifth on two hits and a walk to stretch their lead to 9-1.
Bladen County tried to mount a rally in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jay McKoy, Josh McKoy, and Heustess walked to load the bases. Pierce Melvin ripped a sharp single to left that drove in Jay and Josh McKoy.
Butler was hit by a pitch to reload the bases, but Heustess was called out on a close play at the plate attempting to steal home to end the inning.
Kings Mountain added five runs in the top of the sixth inning on five hits to stretch the lead to 14-3.
Bladen County failed to score in the home sixth and the game was stopped due to the 10-run rule.
Heustess slammed a double, and Melvin belted the 2-run single to lead the Bladen hitters. Josh McKoy connected for the other Bladen hit and scored a run. Jay McKoy drove in a run and scored a run, and Jake Evans scored a run.
Melvin started on the mound for Bladen County and pitched 1.2 innings. Clark worked the next 2 innings on the hill for Bladen County. Scott relieved Clark and pitched 2.1 innings, before Butler came on to pitch the final inning for the Bladen team.
Bladen County will play Brunswick County Wednesday at 11:30 in an elimination game.
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