By Zaire Jones, Bladen Online Intern
The Bladenboro Bulldogs announced four players with All-West Waccamaw Athletic Association honors in May of 1974. The players that were selected were Butchie Martin, Russell Hester, Tim Benton, and Ricky Wright. This comes off the week the Bulldogs won the Waccamaw 2-A regular season title.
The 2-A all-conference team was selected by the coaches of the WWAA. Three of the four Bulldogs selected for the honor were seniors with Wright being the only one who was not a senior.
Ricky Wright had himself a solid year for the Bulldogs. The sophomore pitcher posted a 4-0 record in WWAA play with a 1.25 ERA. Overall, Wright finished 4-2 with a 1.39 ERA. The righty would total 11 RBIs as a hitter, which was 3rd on the team.
The senior pitcher, Butchie Martin, would finish his year with a 6-5 record and a 1.39 ERA. Martin would strike out 114 Batters and only walk 27 in 76 innings pitched for his final year. Martin posted a solid year with his bat as well. Martin would total 22 hits with a scorching .468 batting average. Martin led the Bulldogs in those two categories.
The catcher, senior Tim Benton, had a year for the Bladenboro Bulldogs. Benton finished with a .281 average with his bat, seven stolen bases, 15 runs scored, and 16 hits. Benton would finish in the top 3 for the Bulldogs in stolen bases, runs scored and hits.
Lastly, Russell Hester finished his senior year with a. 328 batting average, 13 RBIs, and 19 hits. These four players all had real solid years and were important in the Bulldogs regular season title.
Reference: Clark, John (1974) Southeastern Times
About Author
