It took East Bladen a few innings to find its game, but once the Eagles did, they soared.
Zach Meares struck out nine and East Bladen scored 10 runs over the final two innings Tuesday night in an 11-1, five-inning win against South Columbus in a nonconference baseball game at Russell Priest Field.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for East Bladen (2-2).
“We started out slow,” East Bladen coach Grant Pait said. “That scared me. “Zach got into a groove finally.”
Meares settled down after the first two innings after allowing a run on four hits. The senior right-hander retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced and allowed only a single in the fifth over his final three innings. He threw 20 pitches in the first inning and was up to 48 after two, but needed only 47 pitches over the final three innings.
Meanwhile, the East Bladen offense sprung to life in the fourth, scoring four times for a 5-1 lead. Raymond Autry led off with a walk, Tyler Hill was hit by a pitch and RaSean McKoy beat out an infield single to load the bases. Ethan Johnson and Meares followed with two-run singles.
In the fifth, the Eagles batted around again. Lefredrick Wooten’s sacrifice fly scored Drew Sholar, who had been hit by a pitch, with the first East Bladen run. Brady Hollingsworth followed with a single to right that scored McKoy and Meares. Jacob Priest singled and Grayson Clark was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Autry, Sholar and McKoy followed with run-producing singles that ended the game because of the 10-run rule.
“We’ve got to get bunts down and we’ve got to stop looking at third strikes,” Pait said. “We did what we are supposed to do. We hit decent pitching. Defense played solid.
“The seniors stepped up and the younger guys are starting to fall in and feel that team vibe.”
East Bladen collected 13 hits with Wooten, Hollingsworth, Autry and McKoy each getting two. Johnson, Meares, Priest, Evan Pait and Sholar each had one.
Wooten laced a two-out triple to left in the first and scored when Hollingsworth reached on an error for East Bladen’s first run. South Columbus tied it in the second inning.
East Bladen is scheduled to host East Columbus at 7 p.m. Friday in another nonconference game.
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