Grays Creek 6, East Bladen 1
Cody Patterson and Zach Bagley combined to pitch a no-hitter and strike-out 16 batters to lead Grays Creek to a 6-1 victory Monday over East Bladen in the semi-finals of the J. Hoyt Warren/Warren Edwards Baseball Tournament at Douglas Byrd High School.
Coach Russell Priest’s Eagles, now 4-8, will play Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the tournament consolation game against the loser of Monday’sDouglas Byrd/Cape Fear game.
Patterson, a junior lefthander, struck out 12, walked 7 and hit one batter in his 5 innings on the mound for the Bears. Bagley, a sophmore righthander, faced the minimum of 6 batters in his 2 innings and struck out four.
The Eagles threatened in the first inning as freshman Sincere Smith and sophmore Kyle Tatum drew walks, both runners stole a base, but were left on base at second and third.
East Bladen mounted a 2-out rally in the second inning. Freshman Ty Watkins was hit by a pitch and freshman Xavier Wooten, Smith and senior Colby Hester all drew walks. Hester’s walk forced home Watkins and put the Eagles up 1-0.
The Bears capitalized on 2 walks, catcher Brandon McMillian’s single to left, a hit batter and a fielder’s choice to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the third.
Wooten and Smith drew 2-out walks in the East Bladen fourth, but were stranded on base.
Senior Gatlin Pate singled, stole second and raced home on Matthew Reeves’ single to push the Grays Creek lead to 3-1 in the fifth.
A walk, 2 errors and Bagley’s run-scoring single padded the Bear lead to 5-1 in the sixth. Pate doubled and scored the final run on a Reeves’ single in the seventh.
Smith worked the first 6 innings on the hill for the Eagles, allowing 5 runs – 3 earned – on 4 hits, 5 walks and a hit batter, while striking out five. Freshman Devan Stocks pitched the seventh and allowed a run on 2 hits and 2 walks.
The Eagles cut down three Bear runners on the bases. Smith threw out courtesy runner Griffin Cummings trying to steal home in the second. Leftfielder Joe Strait cut down Reeves attempting to stretch a single into a double in the fifth, and rightfielder Wooten gunned down Cummings with a strike to Tatum at the plate in the seventh.
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