By Sonny Jones
ELIZABETHTOWN — Jake Futrell walked the first batter, then retired the next 12 Tuesday night as East Bladen began its baseball season with a 10-0 win against South Columbus in a non-conference game at Russell Priest Field.
Futrell struck out eight and didn’t allow a hit over four innings. South Columbus’ lone hit came in the fifth — and final — inning off reliever Coleman Tatum, who struck out the side and walked one in his only inning on the mound.
Ty Mathis and Coleman Tatum each had two hits and drove in two runs. Evan Pait, Zamar Lewis, Weston Hatcher, Marlan Davis and Futrell each had a hit. Davis had two RBIs. Pait and Lewis each scored twice. East Bladen had nine hits.
While Futrell was shutting down the Stallions’ offense, East Bladen scored in each of its four at-bats.
In the first, Pait blasted a triple to the center field fence and scored on Mathis’ base hit. Lewis drove home Mathis with an infield single for a 2-0 lead.
Davis had a run-scoring single to highlight a three-run second inning and a sacrifice fly that plated Hatcher during a two-run third inning that put the Eagles ahead 7-0.
In the fourth, Pait reached on an error, moved to second when Garrison Tatum was hit by a pitch and advanced to third when Lewis walked. Coleman Tatum cracked a two-run, two-out single to right that made it 9-0. Lewis scored on a throwing error by the catcher.
East Bladen, 1-0, is scheduled to play at South Brunswick on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled about 6:30 p.m. following the junior varsity contest.
South Columbus 000 00 — 0-1-4
East Bladen 232 3x — 10-9-0
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