BURGAW – West Bladen’s Knights overcame an early 3-0 deficit to move atop the Four County Conference standings with a 5-4 victory over Pender Tuesday night.
The Patriots capitalized on a key error and doubles by pitcher Riley Murrey and Stephen Brunetti to score the 3 early unearned runs off of Knight starting pitcher Caleb Sholar.
“Caleb threw the ball well,” said Knight Coach Kim Cain. “We had a key error, and they got a couple of bloop hits.” Sholar pitched 5 innings to pick up the win, struck out 3 and walked only one.
West Bladen answered with a run in the second as junior Scott Bowen walked, stole second, advanced on a passed ball and scored on freshman Logan West’s sacrifice fly.
The Knights whittled the margin to 3-2 in the third inning. Senior Hunter Pait walked, advanced on a passed ball and a single by senior T. J. Guyton. Senior Jarrett Williams knocked in Pait with a single.
West Bladen tied the game in the fourth as Logan West beat out an infield hit and stole second base. Pait connected for the single that scored West and tied the game 3-3.
Senior Weston Pidgeon walked in the Knight fifth and sprinted home when Guyton hammered a double that one-hopped the leftfield fence. Senior Trent West launched a sacrifice fly that scored Guyton for a 5-3 West Bladen lead.
Murrey sliced the margin to 5-4 by blasting a long home run in the Pender half of the fifth.
Bowen came on to work two scoreless innings and pick up the save, striking out one and walking one. A diving catch by Guyton in centerfield helped keep the Patriots off the scoreboard. “T. J. made a heck of a catch,” said Coach Cain.
The Knights are the only unbeaten team in the Four County with a 3-0 record and are 5-3 overall. West Bladen will host Wallace-Rose Hill Wednesday night at 7:00.
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