ELIZABETHTOWN — East Bladen scored six runs in the second inning and held off West Bladen 6-3 on Tuesday at Russell Priest Field in a junior varsity baseball game between teams that entered play without a loss.
Winning pitcher Carson Gooden pitched five innings and allowed three runs, one earned, on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Lee Barnes tossed the final two innings for the Eagles and yielded two hits while striking out four.
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Photos by Kenneth Armstrong
Cade Allen, who came to the mound in the second inning for the Knights in relief of starter Brady Durden, retired the final 13 batters he faced in 4.2 innings. He struck out six, allowed two hits and a run.
Kalic Autry led the East Bladen offense with two hits, including a double, in three at-bats and drove in a run. Catcher Parker Greene had a run-producing triple to right during the second-inning uprising. Cole Butler and Gooden each had one hit.
For the Knights, Andre Moore was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Garrett Dunham, Will Durden, Jordan Hester, Brady Durden and Allen each had a hit. Brady Durden and Allen each drove in a run. Matt Kemp and Hezekiah Blanks-Adams also scored runs for West Bladen.
The East Bladen JVs are 3-0 and scheduled to play at West Bladen on Friday at 4 p.m. West Bladen is 3-1 and slated to play at Hobbton on Thursday before hosting the Eagles.
In East Bladen’s decisive second inning, after an out, Na’toren Corbett walked and Butler singled. Gooden followed with a double to right that plated Corbett. D.A. Smith was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases. Caleb Scruggins drew a walk that forced home Butler. Gooden scored on a wild pitch and Smith scored on a passed ball that resulted in the pitching change for West Bladen.
After the second East Bladen out, Greene lined his triple deep to right that plated Scruggins. Courtesy runner Maliki Moore scored the final Eagles run on Autry’s single to center..
West Bladen countered with its three runs in the third. Luke Howell reached on an error, Moore singled and Blanks-Adams walked to load the bases. Brady Durden followed with a single up the middle that knocked home Howell. Moore scored on a passed ball. Dunham then lofted a sacrifice fly to left that drove home Blanks-Adams with the final Knights run.
West Bladen loaded the bases with one out in the sixth on hits by Hester and Kemp along with an East Bladen error, but couldn’t score.
West Bladen 003 000 0 – 3-7-1
East Bladen 060 000 x – 6-5-4
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