Members of the Elizabethtown team are: Front Row (Left-Right): Braylon Cromartie, Collin Cole, Hunter Wood, Claxton Tatum, Fox Sutton, Tyler Eason.
Second Row (L-R): Brady Marlowe, C. J. McCracken, Jayce Hatcher, Joshua Dawson, Jaxon Hair, Easton Bostic.
Back Row (L-R): Coaches Dale Wood, Kyle Bostic, Joseph Hatcher.
RUSTON, La. – Elizabethtown battled back to within 4-3 Sunday, but Metairie, Louisiana sealed a 7-3 elimination game victory with a three-run fifth-inning in the Dixie Youth Baseball AAA (Minors) World Series.
The loss eliminated Elizabethtown, while Louisiana advanced to a Monday game against South Carolina.
Easton Bostic smashed a double down the right field line in the Elizabethtown first inning, and Josh Dawson walked. However, a wild pitch bounced directly back to the Louisiana catcher who threw out Bostic trying to advance to third base on the play and ended the inning.
The first four batters in the Louisiana line-up cracked singles in the first inning. Wesley Moran’s two-run single plated the first two runs, and a throwing error on the play scored another run. Moran later scored on a fielder’s choice for a 4-0 lead.
Austin Schott walked to begin the Louisiana third inning, and C. J. McCracken relieved Braylon Cromartie on the mound for Elizabethtown. McCracken raced to the third base foul line to snag a short pop-up just above the grass then doubled Schott off second base.
In the Elizabethtown fourth inning, Jayce Hatcher drew a one-out walk and raced home when Bostic drilled a shot past shortstop that rolled to the left-center field fence for a double. Dawson ripped a single to center field that scored Bostic and sliced the margin to 4-2. Tyler Eason walked, and Claxton Tatum was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but a groundout ended the inning.
Louisiana loaded the bases in their half of the fourth on an infield hit and two walks, but McCracken struck out the next batter to end the threat.
Jaxon Hair lined a shot that skidded past the second baseman and allowed Hair to reach second base. Hair advanced to third on a fielder’s choice, and Hatcher knocked him in with a single to center field that whittled the lead to 4-3.
Schott was hit by a pitch to begin the Louisiana fifth inning and moved to second on a wild pitch. Catcher Brady McCluskey blooped an infield hit over the pitcher’s head then stole second base. A high throw on Owen Nugent’s fielder’s choice plated Schott, and Moran delivered a two-run single that pushed the final margin to 7-3.
Bostic slammed two doubles, drove in a run and scored a run to lead the Elizabethtown hitters. Dawson and Hatcher belted run-scoring singles, and Hatcher and Hair scored runs.
Cromartie pitched two-plus innings and allowed four runs on five hits and a walk while striking out three. McCracken relieved and pitched two-plus innings, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks while striking out three. Bostic relieved in the fifth and struck out the three batters that he faced.
Moran pitched 3.2 innings to pick up the victory for Louisiana, allowing two runs on three hits and four walks while striking out five. Nicholas Spagnetto retired the only batter that he faced when he relieved Moran in the fourth inning. Noah Casey pitched the final two innings and gave up a run on one hit.
Moran drove in four runs with his pair of singles and scored a run. McCluskey batted 2-for-3 and scored twice. Schott and Nugent had one hit each and scored two runs each.
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