Gallery by Heather Belcher
New Richmond – Thursday night when his team traveled to Wyoming East, Bluefield head coach Jimmy Redmond had a dilemma.
Redmond knew the Beavers needed the key sectional win over the Warriors, but he also knew his team would be playing three games over the next two days.
“We had our guys set on a strict pitch count tonight, so we knew we had to hit,” Redmond said.
Hit they did.
Bluefield pounded out 13 hits and took advantage of some generosity from the home team to walk away with a 16-7 win.
Bluefield started fast thanks to some help from the Warriors.
A passed ball and an errant throw back to the plate allowed Bluefield to take a quick 2-0 lead. Jacob Howard cut the lead in half in the bottom of the first inning when blasted a shot into the trees in left field.
The lead went to 4-1 in the third inning after an RBI double from Hunter Harmon and an RBI-single from Garrett Hicks.
The Beavers tacked on two more in the fourth with some two-out magic.
Caleb Fuller was hit by a pitch before David Rockness rapped a solid single to right. Easily taking third, Fuller then scored when he forced an errant throw to the plate.
Rockness moved up on the throw and later scored after two wild pitches.
The big story of the night for the Warriors were missed opportunities. None were bigger than the chances for the home team in the fourth and fifth innings.
Five straight singles to open the fourth inning pushed two runs across and loaded the bases for the Warriors.
With his team in a critical jam, Harmon recorded a strikeout and coaxed two fly balls in the infield to escape any further damage.
Walks, passed balls and an error on a fly ball gave the Beavers extra life in the fifth innings and the Beavers cashed in four more runs for a 10-3 lead.
Just when the Bluefield looked in command, East came storming back.
Four base hits and a pair of walks put four runs on the board, but once again, a golden opportunity for a big inning slipped away.
With runners at first and second with just one out, a line out to right and a pop up to the infield by the top of the East order stopped the run in its tracks.
Hicks came on to pitch in the middle of the East run and did surrender one hit that led to two runs. However, after that, Hicks recorded the two big outs in the inning and allowed just one hit over the final two frames.
“Garrett came in and slammed the door. He threw strikes tonight,” Redmond said. “He is a senior, but he took a couple of years off. It has been really good having him back with us. He has played shortstop and pitched for us and has done a really good job.”
The visitors put the game away in the sixth inning by hanging six runs on the board. The key blow in the inning was a three-run blast from Harmon that went deep into the night over the left field fence.
The blast came off of Howard who will be Harmon’s teammate next year at Bluefield State.
“He had thrown me a curveball and I knew a fastball was coming because he was trying to get me out,” Harmon said. “I had already got him out and that is how that is when you are going to be teammates eventually. He threw it right where I could hit it and I hit it as far as I could.”
The blast was part of a three-hit night for the Bluefield senior who also drove in a total of five runs.
“I struggled a little bit at the beginning of the year, so I have really been working and trying to get back in the groove,” Harmon said. “I finally seem to have it back and I am stroking the ball like I used to.”
Rockness went 4-for-4 on the night with two RBI, while Fuller had two hits and an RBI.
Shawn Mosely had three hits for the Warriors, while Brody Biggs drove in two runs on two hits.
Although the score seemed like an easy win, it was far from it and Redmond was happy to head home with the win.
“For some reason, it is always hard for us to come down here and play. It seems to take us a couple of innings to get settled in,” Redmond said. “It just seemed like we were pressing and not enjoying the game tonight. I told them several times tonight to just have fun. A win is a win though, especially a sectional win.”
Bluefield heads north to Bridgeport for games against Lincoln and Robert C. Byrd Friday. The Beavers will battle Parkersburg South Saturday.
Wyoming East hosts PikeView Monday in another sectional battle.
