BEAULAVILLE –East Bladen capitalized on a trio of East Duplin errors to take the lead with 3 runs in the 4th inning enroute to a 5-2 non-conference baseball victory Wednesday night.
Coach Grant Pait’s Eagles completed the regular season with a 12-11 record and earned the Waccamaw Conference’s top Class 1A playoff bid. East Bladen will now wait for the state playoff pairings to be released on May 6th. East Bladen is currently ranked No. 12 in the Class 1A East RPI ratings would certainly host a 1st round game. East Duplin dropped to 10-13 on the season.
Cain Graham led off the Panther 2nd inning with a single, but was forced at 2nd by Eli Thigpen. Sophomore J. P. Murphy pounded a double to right, and senior Zach Brown ripped a double to center that scored Thigpen and Murphy for a 2-0 lead.
The Eagles rallied in the 4th inning. Sophomore Colton Daly reached base on an error but was forced at 2nd by senior Lee Barnes. Isaiah Lee smoked a single past 3rd base. Aiden Hargrove reached base on an error that loaded the bases. An error on NaToren Corbett’s grounder scored Barnes, Lee and Hargrove to vault East Bladen in front 3-2.
Zach Sholar drew a walk to start the Eagle 5th inning, and senior Jake Futrell raked a single past 3rd base. Senior Britt Sasser was hit by a pitch, and Daly walked to force home Sholar. Two outs later Aiden Hargrove was hit by a pitch to force home Futrell and pad the lead to 5-2.
Futrell batted 2-for-4 with a run scored to lead the Eagle hitters. Lee singled and scored a run. Daly and Hargrove drove in a run each. Sholar, Barnes and Hargrove scored 1 run each.
Sophomore Davion Lewis started on the mound for the Eagles and pitched 3 innings allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 5 walks while striking out 1. Sasser worked 2 scoreless, hitless innings of relief, walking 2 and striking out 3. Futrell worked 2 scoreless innings of 1-hit relief and struck out 3.
Brown doubled and drove in 2 runs for the Panthers. Murphy doubled and scored a run. Gavin Holmes also doubled. Baines Raynor started on the mound and pitched 5 innings allowing 5 runs – 2 earned – on 2 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5. Murphy pitched 2 innings of scoreless, 1-hit relief walking 1 and striking out 1.
East Bladen 000 320 0 — 5-3-1
East Duplin 020 000 0 — 2-5-4
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