BLADENBORO – Elizabethtown finished off an undefeated baseball season Monday with a 17-0 Bladen Five Middle School Conference victory over Bladenboro.
Winning pitcher Zach Meares struck out the first 6 batters that he faced before giving up a single to Cameron Flowers leading off the third inning. Meares picked off the base-runner then struck out the next two batters. Meares finished with a one-hitter and struck out ten batters.
The Cougars grabbed a 4-0 first-inning lead. Jay McKoy slammed a lead-off double and dashed home when Drew Sholar cracked a single. Freddie Wooten walloped a triple that scored Sholar.
Catcher Brady Hollingsworth reached base on a passed third strike, and Rasean McKoy smacked a single that scored Wooten and Hollingsworth.
Elizabethtown broke the game open with a 9-run second inning. Tyler Hill cracked a lead-off single, and Jay McKoy drilled his second double of the game. Consecutive walks to Sholar, Meares, Wooten and Hollingsworth forced home Hill, Jay McKoy, and Sholar.
Rasean McKoy smashed a double that scored Meares and Wooten. Raymond Autry, Chase Starkloff, Sholar and Meares drew walks as Hollingsworth, Rasean McKoy, Autry and Starkloff scored to stretch the Cougar lead to 13-0.
The Cougars tacked on a run in the third inning as Grayson Clark, Makhi Cromartie and Ethan Johnson drew walks. Clark scored the run as the lead grew to 14-0.
Sholar belted a single to start the Cougar fourth inning, and raced home as Elijah Bullard reached base on an error. Hollingsworth, Clark, Ahmad Powell and Johnson drew consecutive walks that scored Bullard and Hollingsworth.
Rasean McKoy batted 2-2 with 4 runs batted in and a run scored. Jay McKoy finished 2-2 at the plate with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored. Sholar also batted 2-2 with 2 rbi’s and 3 runs scored.
Wooten tripled, scored twice and drove in 2 runs. Hill singled and scored a run. Meares had 2 rbi’s, and Starkloff, Hollingsworth, Powell and Johnson had one rbi each. Hollingsworth scored 3 runs, and Starkloff, Meares, Bullard, Clark, and Autry scored one run each.
Alex Strange started on the mound for Bladenboro. Shyron Adams was hit by a pitch, and Josh Russ reached base on an error to account for the other Bulldog base runners in the game.
Coach Tripp Lancaster’s Cougars posted a perfect 6-0 record to win the league championship. Bladenboro finished with a 1-5 record.
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