FAYETTEVILLE – Kyshawn McLean and senior Devin Bagley combined to pitch a 5-hitter as Cape Fear held off East Bladen 4-2 Monday night in the semi-finals of the J. Hoyt Warren/Wayne Edwards Easter Baseball Tournament at Douglas Byrd High.
McLean allowed only 2 hits and one run in 5.2 innings to pick up the win. The junior righthander struck out 7 but walked six. Bagley worked the final 1.1 innings and gave up a run on 3 hits.
The Eagles almost took a first inning lead when sophmore Shy Pone walked but was forced at second by junior Sincere Smith. Senior Kyle Tatum raked a single to leftfield.
Smith stole third base and attempted to score when the throw to third squirted into leftfield. Shortstop Gavin Williams backed up the play and fired a laser to the plate where Smith was called out on a very close play.
In the Colt second inning, Jackson Parker’s fly ball was dropped, and Ryan Johnson sliced a single down the leftfield line. After a walk, Eagle pitcher Xavier Wooten picked Johnson off second base, but Taylon Hope was hit by a pitch, and a walk to McLean forced home Parker for a 1-0 Colt lead.
After walks to Pone and Smith in the East third inning, Kyle Tatum lined an apparent hit to rightfield, but Parker made a diving catch and doubled a runner off first base.
With two out in the Cape Fear fifth, Jay Stevens, John Robert MacNaught, and Williams connected for back-to-back-to back singles that scored Stevens with Williams driving him in.
A 2-out error on Bagley’s grounder kept the Colt sixth alive. After a walk, McLean cracked a single to rightfield that scored Bagley for a 3-0 lead.
After Smith walked and Kyle Tatum reached base on a throwing error in the Eagle sixth, a double play erased Tatum. Smith broke for the plate on the catcher’s return throw to the pitcher and slid in headfirst with a steal of home and the first East run.
Walks to Williams and Josh Krings preceded Parker’s wind-aided double that scored Williams in the Colt seventh inning.
In the home seventh, Josh McKoy beat out an infield hit, and Deondre Newkirk laced a single to right-centerfield. Smith rapped a single to centerfield that scored McKoy. A fly ball ended the game with the tying runs on base.
Junior Xavier Wooten pitched the first 6 innings for East Bladen giving up 3 runs – one earned – on 5 hits, 3 walks and a hit batsman while striking out five. Pone struck out 2, walked 2 and gave up a run on one hit in the seventh inning.
Smith, Kyle Tatum, Brooks McGill, Newkirk and McKoy connected for one hit each for the Eagles. Smith and McKoy scored runs, and Smith drove in a run.
Parker batted 2-4 with a double, an rbi and a run scored to lead the Colts. McLean singled and drove in 2 runs. Williams singled in a run and scored one.
The Eagles, now 9-5, will play Freedom Christian Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the tournament’s third-place game. Cape Fear will battle Scotland in Tuesday’s 7 p.m. championship game.
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