CERRO GORDO – West Columbus scored five unearned runs late in the game, then won in extra innings Saturday afternoon, beating West Bladen 7-6 in a non-conference junior varsity baseball game.
West Bladen had a 6-1 lead through 4 1/2 innings, but West Columbus plated three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth with the aid of four errors to tie it at 6-all. Two walks and a single in the bottom of the seventh won it for the Vikings.
T.J. Guyton and Caleb Sholar led West Bladen at the plate, each going 3-for-4. Guyton scored a run and drove in a run. Sholar had a pair of doubles and courtesy runner Shawn Oxendine scored twice. Jonathan Robinson belted a second-inning home run over the right field fence. Trey Storms had a pair of singles and a RBI. Jonathan Ashworth and Ian Sykes each had one hit and scored once. Dalton Pait drove in a run with a ground out.
Sholar pitched 5 1/3 innings, scattered seven hits, struck out nine and walked seven. Only one of the six runs he was charged with was earned. Derrick Long pitched in relief and was charged with the loss. He gave up two hits, a run, three walks and struck out one.
West Bladen scored twice in the second inning, getting on the board with Robinson’s lead off homer. Sholar had a one-out double and courtesy runner Oxendine scored when Sykes reached on an error.
The Knights increased their lead to 4-1 in the third. Guyton led off with an infield single and went to second on a throwing error. Ashworth followed with a double that drove home Guyton. Storms’ two-out single to left scored Ashworth.
West Bladen’s final two runs came in the fifth. Sholar doubled and Sykes reached on an error to put runners on first and third. Sykes then stole second. Pait grounded out to short as courtesy runner Oxendine scored. Guyton then slapped a two-out single that scored Sykes.
However, the Knights couldn’t hold on to the lead over the final two innings.
West Bladen, now 2-2, is scheduled to play at Union on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the opening of Four County Conference play.
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