Bluefield – Part of the reason for Bluefield’s 5-0 start has been its ability to crush the ball and string together quality pitching performances.
That formula continued to yield success for the reigning sectional champions.
Pounding out 12 hits, the Beavers toppled sectional foe Wyoming East 18-1 in five innings Saturday at Bowen Field in Bluefield.
It was nearly a role reversal early with East loading the bases with one out in the top of the first, but a double play neutralized the threat, leaving the momentum up for grabs.
The Beavers grabbed it and never let go, sending 15 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning and scoring 10 runs to erase most doubt early.
“Well we worked pretty good on their hitting,” Bluefield coach Jimmy Redmond said. “Again I think our pitch selection and being disciplined at the plate and laying off bad pitches and then Caleb Fuller had a pretty good game (pitching). It’s a sectional game so I’m pleased to see us hit the ball like that.”
Fuller, who got the nod on the bump, recovered from a pair of walks and an error that put the Beavers in early danger by inducing a ground ball that his defense turned into a double play. Meanwhile the Bluefield offense didn’t miss the chance to capitalize.
Bryson Redmond got things rolling with a leadoff single, stealing second and scoring on a Ryker Brown RBI single. Hunter Harmon, who finished the day with six RBIs, was hit and a single from Kerry Collins loaded the bases. An RBI single from Fuller and another hit batsmen provided two more runs in an inning that spanned nearly an hour.
It wasn’t until the eighth batter reached the plate that East recoded its first out.
The most damaging blow of the frame came when Harmon reached the plate for the second time, hitting a double that plated three. When the dust finally settled Bluefield held a 10-0 lead.
“We’re looking for pitchers right now,” Wyoming East coach Ron “Chief” Mayhew said. “We’ve just got to give them time and see if they can develop. Other than pitching I thought we did pretty decent. We’ve got to put more hitting together. We’re not hitting back to back and we’ve got to get hard contact. But all in all we’ve got room for improvement.”
The Beavers continued their barrage in the second with Harmon plating three more, and rounding the bases to score himself after two errors, on a double. Kerry Collins put the exclamation point on it with a solo blast over the fence in left field to make it 15-0.
Much like the first inning, the Warriors had a chance to inflict damage with their bats after Jacob Ellison plated Garrett Mitchell with a bases loaded walk, but Fuller wiggled out of the jam with strikeout and a flyout,
“We got a couple double plays,” Redmond said. “The one in the first was big and it was a pitcher’s best friend and got him out of that jam. But it was good to see him just stay focused and work out of it.”
Bluefield added three more runs in the fourth, accounting for the final score.
“If we score early I think it’s different,” Chief said. “We stress a team with momentum. They see that they need to get hits and runs. If our leadoff group gets hits and score, the ones behind them see that and think it might be a good day but what is wrong can be fixed.”
Wyoming East drops to 3-2 and will host PikeView on Monday. Bluefield improves to 6-0 and will travel to Class AAA Oak Hill on Monday.
WE: 001 00 – 1 3 4
B: 10 5 0 3x – 18 12 1
Pitching and Catching – WE: Chase Griffith, Caden Cook, Jacob Howard, Zach Hunt, Tanner Whitten Gabe Riling and Zach Hunt and Jacob Ellison); B: Caleb Fuller, Dais Rockness and Bryson Redmond. WP: Fuller, LP: Griffith.
Hitting – WE: Garrett Mitchell 1-2, Caden Cook 1-2, Jacob Ellison (RBI); B: Bryson Redmond 1-3, Ryker Brown 1-1 (2 RBI, 3 BB), Hunter Harmon 2-2 (2 2B, 6 RBI), Kerry Collins 3-4 (HR, 2 RBI), Caleb Fuller 3-4 (2 RBI), R. Harris (2 RBI), Will Youth 1-4 (RBI), Kam’ron Gore (1-3), Davis Rockness 0-1 (RBI).
