East Bladen Secure First Win

ELIZABETHTOWN-The East Bladen Eagles defeated the West Bladen Knights for a 7-1 victory last Tuesday in a non-conference clash between county rivals. East Bladen senior right-hander Jake Futrell terrorized the Knights lineup allowing three hits, with nine strikeouts, and gave up one earned through six inning pitched. West Bladen kept things competitive for much of the game but a nightmarish third inning saw them fall behind 5-1 after a series of walks gave their opponents unimpeded runs to home.

West Bladen junior Garrett Dunham started on the mound for the Knights and he pitched for just about 2.5 innings before he was pulled in the bottom of the third. Dunham dueled with the top of the Eagles lineup in the first inning and he came out on top after sitting down one, while the other two outs were fly outs toward the outfield.

West Bladen junior Cade Allen led off with a single down the third-base line and senior Jordan Hester showed discipline at the plate to earn the walk to put two runners on-base. Allen would eventually wheel himself to third-base and Hester would slide over to second on a sacrifice bunt. Futrell didn’t panic on top of the hill and got the final two outs with any damage done to the scoreboard.

Dunham returned to the mound and struckout two straight batters with wicked fastballs that pounded into the strikezone. East Bladen senior Tyler Johnson stepped up the plate and delivered a single after smacking one towards centerfield. His teammate, Jayce Hatcher made solid contact with the ball but launched it straight towards the glove of right-fielder Jahmar Richardson’s glove to end the inning.

West Bladen’s Richardson was leadoff the next at-bat for the Knights and got on base with a walk after showing patience on a full-count. Futrell shook off the walk by striking out the next batter he faced in the lineup but Richardson was able to advance to second-base during the at-bat. Dunham brought Richardson home with an RBI-single to score the first run of the game.

West Bladen sophomore Hunter Hester smoked a grounder between the shortstop and second-basemen for a single to centerfield but Dunham advanced no further than second-base. Allen stepped up to the plate for his second at-bat of the night and battled Futrell to earn a single but Hester was thrown out at second on the fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning. The pressure subsided only momentarily as Futrell walked the next batter he faced to load the bases.

West Bladen junior Brady Durden stepped up to the plate with a chance to blow the game wide open but the Eagles ace barely flinched and sat him down with a high fastball for the decisive third out to usher in the bottom of third inning. East Bladen quickly loaded the bases with their first three hitters and eventually tied the game on a freebie when Futrell took a pitch off the helmet to move runners.

East Bladen senior Darius Williamson and Johnson trotted across home plate on passed balls with no outs to make the game 3-1. West Bladen freshmen Ashton Davis replaced Dunham on the mound and he entered the game with the bases loaded. J’amrius Smith was the first batter to welcome Davis into the game and he smacked an RBI-single to right-field for the fourth run to cross the plate in the inning. The Eagles scored one more time before Davis could get his team out of the inning with a strike.

West Bladen failed to respond for their next at-bat to conclude the top of the fourth inning with three straight outs. East Bladen was able to stretch their lead to six with Davion Lewis stealing home on a pitch in the dirt for their half of the fourth. Futrell’s right-arm kept pounding the strike zone at the top of the fifth and the Eagles made quick work of their opponents lineup to end the inning quickly.

Hatcher scored the final run of the night on an unimpeded trip home after passed balls to make the game 7-1 at the bottom of the fifth. West Bladen’s Aiden Ross pitched 1.1 innings to finish the game on top of the mound and East Bladen senior Britt Sasser closed the game out to earn the save. The Eagles only had a total of six hits but they still were able to secure their first one of the season as their overall record moved to 1-2.

The Knights finished the game with four hits on the night for a night to forget at the plate. West Bladen’s overall record moves to 0-2 but they’ll have a chance to bounce back when they host the Eagles on Monday night.