By Sonny Jones
East Bladen has opened a 6-3 advantage over West Bladen in head-to-head team meetings with three contests remaining during the fall sports seasons.
East Bladen won in varsity volleyball and girls’ tennis while West Bladen won in JV volleyball Tuesday. East Bladen won in football Monday.
Remaining contests have West Bladen at East Bladen in JV football Thursday and in varsity and JV boys’ soccer Oct. 12.
• By the way, the JV football game between the Bladen high schools will kick off at 6 p.m. instead of the previously announced 6:30.
• There will not be a Midway at East Bladen JV boys’ soccer game today (Wednesday) as scheduled because of a lack of available officials. The varsity game is slated to start at 6:30 p.m.
• A pair of middle school soccer games that were postponed Sept. 29 because of Hurricane Ian have been rescheduled. The Bladenboro at Clarkton School of Discovery will be played today (Wednesday) at 4 p.m. The Elizabethtown at Tar Heel game will be played Oct. 12 at 4 p.m.
• Small Ball: The defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves needed 161 games this season to record their first successful sacrifice bunt. It came Tuesday night in a 2-1 win at Miami. Michael Harris II laid it down in the fourth to move runners to second and third.
• The MLB playoffs are set. AL wild card – Tampa Bay at Cleveland and Seattle at Toronto. NL wild card – San Diego at New York Mets and Philadelphia at St. Louis. All are best-of-3 series and open Friday.
WEDNESDAY’S PICK TO CLICK
The Cincinnati Reds will beat the Chicago Cubs to avoid a 100-loss season. Cincinnati avoided the mark Tuesday with a 3-2 walk-off win. Surely, the Reds can do it again to avoid joining Oakland, Washington and Pittsburgh with triple-digit losses this season.
TUESDAY’S PICK: Dansby Swanson homers against Miami’s Braxton Garrett as the Atlanta Braves officially wrap up the National League East title and a first-round playoff bye. RESULTS: Swanson was 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
• 2001 — Barry Bonds sets a new mark for home runs in a single season, hitting Nos. 71 and 72, but San Francisco is eliminated from the playoffs with an 11-10 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY
• COLLEGE GOLF: Blessings Invitational, 4:30 p.m., GOLF
• NHL PRESEASON: Boston at NY Rangers, 7 p.m., TNT
• NBA PRESEASON: Cleveland at Philadelphia, 7 p.m., NBATV
• NHL PRESEASON: Dallas at Colorado, 9:30 p.m., TNT
• NBA PRESEASON: Phoenix at LA Lakers, 10 p.m., NBATV
Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com and follow on Twitter @FOSonnyJones.
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