KENANSVILLE – Three pitchers combined to pitch a one-hitter as Elizabethtown rolled to a 15-0 victory over Sampson County American Sunday in the North Carolina Dixie Youth Baseball Majors State Tournament.
Elizabethtown advances to play at 4 p.m. Monday against the loser of Sunday night’s Dunn-South Park game.
Ty Mathis started on the mound for Elizabethtown and pitched 2 innings to pick up the victory. Mathis struck out one and gave up the only Sampson hit in the second inning. However a double play from shortstop Garrett Melvin to secondbaseman Chase Starkloff to firstbaseman Freddy Wooten ended the inning.
Melvin struck out 2 batters as he pitched a perfect third inning, and Evan Pait struck out 2 and gave up one walk in a scoreless fourth inning on the hill for Elizabethtown.
The Elizabethtown offense exploded for 6 runs in the first inning. Pait raked a single to leftfield, and Wooten walked. However, Raymond Autry’s fielder’s choice forced Wooten at second. After Mathis drew a walk, Hill belted a 2-run single to right-centerfield that plated Pait and Autry.
Garrison Tatum smashed a double to right-centerfield that scored Mathis and Hill. Coleman Tatum drew a walk, before Ayden Piland yanked a single to rightfield that scored Garrison Tatum and Coleman Tatum.
Elizabethtown piled on 9 runs in the second inning. Mahki Cromartie drew a walk, and Melvin smacked a single to rightfield. Walks to Pait and Wooten forced home Cromartie with a run, before Autry drilled a double to left-centerfield that scored Melvin and Pait.
Mathis blasted a 3-run home run over the rightfield fence that upped the count to 12-0. Hill was hit by a pitch, and Coleman Tatum and Piland drew walks to load the bases. Melvin then pounded a double to left-centerfield that cleared the sacks.
Melvin finished 2-3 at the plate with a double, a run scored and 3 runs batted in. Mathis slugged the 3-run homer and scored twice. Autry doubled, scored twice and drove in 2 runs. Garrison Tatum doubled in a run and scored one.
Piland, Pait and Hill added one hit each. Piland and Hill drove in 2 runs each, and Wooten had an rbi. Pait, Hill and Coleman Tatum scored 2 runs each, and Piland, Cromartie and Wooten scored one run each.
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