After 22 runs, 21 hits, 11 errors, nine walks, five passed balls, two wild pitches, a hit batter and five lead changes, it seemed only fitting the deciding run was scored off an error.
West Bladen pushed across two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday night in outscoring Pender 12-11 in a Four County baseball game at Knights Field.
The Knights’ rally began with a single to right by Troy Edge. He was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Donald McCullum. Jeremy Hunt followed with a single to center that scored Edge with the tying run. Seth Britt reached on an error by the left fielder that moved Hunt to second. Jarrett Williams followed with a bouncer back to the mound, but the throw to first was low and Hunt raced home with the winning run.
The victory improved West Bladen to 3-5 overall and 2-2 in the Four County Conference. The Knights will participate in the Robeson County Slugfest at South Robeson High School. West Bladen’s first game is scheduled Saturday at 1 p.m. against Lumberton.
Pender is 0-9 overall and 0-4 in the conference.
Chandler Lennon earned the win on the mound for West Bladen. The senior right-hander allowed nine hits, walked six and struck out seven. Only six of the runs were earned as the Knights were charged with five errors.
Lennon was 3-for-4 with a triple and run batted in to lead West Bladen. Trent West was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs. Hunt was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Edge was 2-for-4 with a RBI. Williams and McCullum each had a hit and drove in a run. Britt had a hit.
Ray Jones, Edge and Britt each scored twice for West Bladen. Hunt, Williams, West, McCullum, Scott Bowen and Jonathan Ashworth each scored once. Hunt, Britt and Jones each had two stolen bases and Edge had one.
West Bladen tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the first when Britt singled, stole second, moved to third on a ground out and scored on West’s double. The Knights made it 2-1 in the second when Jones reached on an error, stole second and went to third on an overthrow, then scored on Bowen’s ground out.
Pender struck for five runs in the top of the third for a 6-2 lead, but West Bladen sent 12 batters to the plate and scored eight runs in the bottom of the third for a 10-6 advantage. The Knights scored on run-producing hits by Williams, West, Lennon, Edge and McCullum along with an error and passed ball.
Pender cut it to 10-8 with a pair of runs in the fourth and took an 11-10 lead with three runs in the sixth.
That set the stage for the Knights’ rally in the seventh.
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