By John Clark
BLADENBORO – Sophomore Brady Durden batted 4-4 and teamed up with junior Jordan Hester to pitch an abbreviated no-hitter as West Bladen defeated Union 21-1 Monday night in non-conference baseball action.
Durden started on the mound and struck out the side while walking 1 in the 1st inning. Hester relieved to begin the 2nd inning and struck out 4 in his 2 innings of work but gave up an unearned run on 2 errors.
Sophomore Garrett Dunham laced a single to begin the Knight 1st inning. Senior Bryce Fuller walked and senior Hunter Smith was hit by a pitch. Dunham dashed home on a wild pitch, and sophomore Hezekiah Adams walked, before senior Hunter Elks sliced a bases-clearing triple down the right field line. Brady Durden lined a single to left that scored Elks for a 5-0 lead.
After Treshawn Taylor scored the Union run in the 2nd inning, West Bladen sent 16 batters to the plate in the home 2nd and scored 12 runs on 10 hits, 1 error, 2 walks and 4 wild pitches. Sophomore Hezekiah Adams hooked a run-scoring triple down the right field line. Sophomore Cade Allen cracked 2 singles in the inning and drove in Dunham with one of them.
Brady Durden slammed a single and a run-scoring double in the inning. Sophomore Mason Jones and senior Aaron Wren smacked RBI singles. Elks and freshman Joshua Dawson contributed singles, and Smith hammered an RBI triple to left-center field.
Senior Garrison Carr and Hester cracked singles to start the Knight 3rd inning. Smith and Brady Durden delivered RBI singles before the game was ended.
Brady Durden totaled 3 RBIs, a double and a run scored to go with his 4 hits. Elks finished 2-for-2 with a triple, 3 RBIs and a run scored. Smith was 2-for-2 with a triple, 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored. Allen batted 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored.
Blanks tripled, scored 2 runs and had 1 RBI. Dunham, Hester, Wren, Dawson, Jones and Carr added 1 hit each. Carr scored 3 runs. Dunham, Jones and Wren scored 2 runs each. Fuller and Hester scored 1 run each. Dawson had 2 RBIs. Jones, Wren and junior Will Durden had 1 RBI each.
Junior Laurencio Grimaldo and Taylor shared the pitching duties for the Spartans.
Coach Wade Pait’s Knights improved to 5-1 and will open Southeastern Athletic Conference play Tuesday night at Clinton.
Union 010 — 1- 0-1
West Bladen 5(12)4 — 21-17-2
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