ELIZABETHTOWN – Freshman Jayce Hatcher and sophomore Davion Lewis teamed up to pitch a 4-hitter and strike out 9 batters Tuesday night as East Bladen’s Eagles claimed a 6-2 Waccamaw Conference baseball victory over Pender.
Coach Grant Pait’s Eagles improved to 5-1 in Waccamaw play and to 6-5 overall. The Eagles will begin play Saturday in the Terry Sanford Easter Tournament.
Hatcher pitched 6-plus innings facing 2 batters in the 7th inning and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7. Lewis worked the final inning in relief and allowed a hit and no walks while striking out 2.
D. A. Smith, Parker Greene, Lewis, and Hatcher drew consecutive walks in the Eagle 1st inning. Smith darted home on a passed ball, and Aiden Hargrove, the courtesy runner for Greene, dashed home on an error for a 2-0 East lead.
Greene reached base on an error in the Eagle 3rd inning. Lewis and Hatcher drew walks, before senior Lee Barnes drilled a single to center field that scored Hargrove who was running for Greene again and padded the lead to 3-0.
Cole Butler beat out a bunt single in the East 4th inning, and Smith belted a single. Butler scored on an error to up the count to 4-0.
Hatcher hammered a double to center field in the 5th inning, and Britt Sasser was hit by a pitch. Carson Gooden knocked in Andrew Musselwhite, the courtesy runner for Hatcher, with a single to right that stretched the lead to 5-0.
Smith blasted a triple to right field to begin the Eagle 6th inning. Greene’s fielder’s choice plated Smith and pushed the lead to 6-0.
Ryan Howell walked, advanced on Sean Cummings single and scored on a fielder’s choice in the Patriot 7th inning. Darius Bowen drove in Cummings with a single for the 2nd Pender run.
Smith batted 2-for-3 with a triple and 2 runs scored for the Eagles. Hatcher doubled. Gooden, Butler, and Barnes connected for 1 hit each. Greene, Barnes and Gooden had 1 RBI each. Hargrove scored 2 runs, and Butler and Musselwhite scored 1 run each.
Tyler Conger started and pitched 3.1 innings for Pender giving up 4 runs – 2 earned- on 3 hits and 8 walks. Howell finished up with 2.2 innings of relief allowing 2 runs on 3 hits
Pender 000 000 2 — 2-4-3
East Bladen 201 111 x — 6-6-0
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