FAYETTEVILLE – Sophmore Pierce Melvin won his first varsity start, and junior Sincere Smith and senior Kyle Tatum connected for 3 hits each to lead East Bladen to an 8-1 victory over Freedom Christian in the J. Hoyt Warren/Wayne Edwards Easter Baseball Tournament.
Melvin pitched 6 innings and allowed one unearned run on 4 hits and a walk while striking out five. Smith worked a scoreless seventh giving up 2 walks and a hit before striking out the final batter.
At the plate Smith batted 3-4 with 2 doubles, a run batted in and 2 runs scored. Kyle Tatum finished a perfect 3-3 at the plate with a double, an rbi and 2 runs scored. His courtesy runner, Nick Collins, scored another run.
Smith led off the game with a double to right-centerfield, and junior Brooks McGill walked. Kyle Tatum rifled a double down the rightfield line that scored Smith. One out later Josh McKoy knocked in McGill and Tatum with a single to centerfield that put East up 3-0.
A throwing error, a stolen base and Hunter Johnson’s opposite-field single plated the Patriot run in the bottom of the first.
Smith ranged to the first base side of second base in the second inning to spear a grounder and rob Andrew Bolton of a base hit.
Kyle Tatum lined a single to left, and junior Xavier Wooten smacked a single to right in the third inning. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and raced home for a 5-1 Eagle lead when the Patriots dropped an infleld pop-up behind the mound.
The Patriots put their first two batters on base in the home third, but catcher Kyle Tatum fired to thirdbaseman Deondre Newkirk to pick a runner off third and kill the rally.
Kyle Tatum ripped a single to left, and Wooten belted a single to centerfield to start the East fifth inning. After a double play erased Wooten, junior Quinton Bedsole delivered a single to centerfield that scored Collins, the courtesy runner for Tatum.
Newkirk swatted a single to right and stole second base to start the Eagle sixth. Smith laced a single to right that scored Newkirk then stole second and third base and darted home on a throwing error.
Wooten batted 2-3 and scored a run. Dan Tatum slammed a double, and McKoy, Bedsole, Melvin and Newkirk added one hit each. McKoy had 2 rbi’s, and McGill and Newkirk scored one run each.
The Eagles captured third-place in the tournament with the win. East Bladen played the last two games without pitcher/firstbaseman Ty Watkins who was injured in a 4-wheeler accident Monday.
Coach Russell Priest’s Eagles improved to 10-5 and will travel to Rocky Point Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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