BURGAW – East Bladen’s Eagles moved into first-place in the Four County Conference baseball standings with a 10-3 victory over Pender Tuesday night.
The Eagles improved to 8-0 overall and 12-3 overall. Clinton who had been tied with East Bladen lost 4-3 to Midway Tuesday night to drop to 8-1 in league play.
Senior Alex Coates and sophmore Xavier Wooten teamed up to pitch East Bladen to the victory. Coates pitched the first 3 innings and gave up a run on 4 hits and a walk, while striking out three.
Wooten pitched the final 4 innings to pick up his second win of the season. After giving up hits to the first two batters, the sophmore righthander regrouped to strike-out the side in the fourth. He allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk, while striking out six.
The Eagles grabbed the early 4-0 lead as sophmore Quinton Bedsole and junior Kyle Tatum laced one-out singles to left-centerfield. Senior Nikita Owens pounded a 2-run double to left-center that plated Bedsole and Tatum.
Sophmore Ty Watkins yanked a single to rightfield that brought home Owens, and Wooten knocked in Watkins with a single to right.
The Eagles tacked on a run in the second for a 5-0 lead as Tatum smacked a single to left-centerfield, stole second and dashed home when Owens smashed a double to rightfield.
Tyler Norris singled, stole second and scored on Bryce Guertin’s single in the Patriot second.
The Eagles pushed the lead back to 6-1 in the third. Wooten led off with a single, stole second and third base then darted home when freshman Greyson Heustess belted a single to right-centerfield.
In the East Bladen fourth, Tatum walked and Owens reached base on an error. Wooten hammered a double that drove in both runners for an 8-1 Eagle lead.
Hayden Kreitzer greeted Wooten with a triple in the home fourth, and Norris singled him in. After a Norris steal and two Wooten strike-outs, Stephen Brunetti drove in Norris with a single that trimmed the margin to 8-3.
Sophmore Sincere Smith ripped a triple into the leftfield corner in the fifth inning, and Bedsole raked a single to left to drive him in. Tatum slammed a triple down the leftfield line that scored Bedsole for a 10-3 lead.
Tatum led the 15-hit Eagle hit parade with a 3-3 game that included a triple, a run batted in and 3 runs scored. Wooten finished 3-4 at the plate with 3 rbi’s and a run scored.
Owens clobbered 2 doubles, drove in 3 runs and scored twice. Bedsole batted 2-4 with an rbi and 2 runs scored. Heustess was also 2-4 with an rbi, and Smith finished 2-5 with a triple and a run scored. Watkins delivered an rbi single and scored a run.
The Eagle defense turned a pair of double plays. In the third inning, it was a Smith-to-Bedsole-to Watkins double play, and in the sixth it was Bedsole-to-Smith-to Watkins to end the inning.
Coach Russell Priest’s Eagles travel to Clinton Thursday for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Dark Horses.
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