KENANSVILLE – Lee Barnes and Carson Gooden combined to pitch a 3-hit shutout Sunday as Elizabethtown defeated Stanley 7-0 in the North Carolina Dixie Youth Baseball Majors State Tournament.
Gooden pitched the first 2 innings and allowed one hit, 2 walks and a hit batter while striking out two. Barnes relieved and worked the final 4 innings on the mound, striking out 7 and allowing 2 hits and a walk.
Torreon Graham led off the Elizabethtown first inning with a single, Hunter Elks walked, and Graham raced home on Gooden’s sacrifice. Barnes then walloped a 2-run homer that scored Elks and put Elizabethtown ahead 3-0.
Elijah Cain walked to begin the Elizabethtown third inning, and Graham ripped a single to leftfield. Barnes hammered a double that scored Cain, but Graham was thrown out at the plate on the play.
Elizabethtown put the game away with 3 runs in the fifth inning. Graham reached base on an error, and Elks crushed a 2-run home run that scored Graham. Barnes smacked a single to rightfield, and Parker Greene hammered a double to right-centerfield that scored Barnes.
Barnes batted 3-3 with the home run, a double, 3 runs batted in and 2 runs scored. Graham finished 2-3 at the plate with 2 runs scored. Greene doubled home a run, and Hunter Smith, Jake Futrell, and Jacob Nixon belted one hit each. Gooden drove in a run, and Cain scored a run.
Elizabethtown advances to a 6 p.m. game Monday against the Columbus County/South Park loser.
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