Junior Alex Coates pitched 6.2 innings of 4-hit baseball as East Bladen rolled to a 9-3 Four County Conference baseball victory over visiting Wallace-Rose Hill on Senior Night Tuesday.
Coates who pitched a perfect game on April 13th at Wallace took a 2-hit shutout into the seventh inning and struck out 2 of the first 3 batters, before singles by Stratton Rich and Gavin Herring sandwiched around a wild pitch plated the first Bulldog run.
Freshman Xavier Wooten relieved Coates and was greeted by junior Alex Lisane who crushed a triple to deep right-field. Lisane scored on Walker Imwalle’s infield hit to trim the lead to 9-3, before Wooten secured the final out on a pop-up to second base.
Coates’ final line was 2 runs on 4 hits in 6.2 innings with a walk and a hit batter, while striking out two. Wooten allowed a run on 2 hits and a walk in his 0.1 inning of work.
The Eagle offense jumped on the Bulldogs with 4 runs in the first inning. Senior Colby Hester cracked a one-out single, before sophomore Kyle Tatum hammered a run-scoring triple to left-field.
Senior Matthew Massengill’s grounder plated Tatum and a wild throw to first put Massengill at second base. After walks to Coates and freshman McKinley Raynor, freshman Ty Watkins ripped a 2-run single to center-field that scored Massengill and Ty McMillian, the courtesy runner for Coates.
The Eagles padded their lead with 2 more runs in the second inning. Freshman Sincere Smith started the inning with a single and advanced on a wild pitch. Tatum was intentionally walked, and Massengill reached on an error to load the bases.
Coates drew a walk to force home Smith with the first run of the inning, and junior Nikita Owens’ fielder’s choice plated Tatum and made it 6-0.
Watkins laced a single to right field to begin the East third inning, and Wooten blasted a triple to the fence in right-centerfield. Smith’s ground-out brought home Wooten and upped the count to 8-0.
Wooten reached on an error and scored the final East run on Hester’s single to make it 9-0.
Hester batted a perfect 3-3 with an rbi and a run scored. Watkins finished 2-4 at the plate with 2 rbi’s and a run scored. Tatum tripled in a run and scored twice. Wooten clubbed the rbi triple and scored twice.
Raynor, Massengill and Smith added one hit each to the ten-hit Eagle attack. Smith, Massengill and McMillian scored one run each, and Massengill, Coates, Smith and Owens had one rbi each.
Imwalle started on the mound for Wallace and pitched into the third inning, before being relieved by Macon Cavanaugh. Lisane batted 2-3 with a double, a triple, a run scored and an rbi to lead the Wallace hitters. Imwalle and Jacob Hargrove both finished 2-4 at the plate for the Bulldogs.
East Bladen seniors Matthew Massengill and Colby Hester were honored in ceremonies before their last home game.
Coach Russell Priest’s Eagles improved to 6-7 in the Four County and 10-11 overall and will travel to rival West Bladen Friday night in a game that will decide third-place in the conference.
About Author
