BLADENBORO – The West Bladen Knights return to the baseball diamond this Thursday against the Wilmington-Hoggard Vikings at home for a non-conference match-up. The Knights finished last spring with an overall record of 11-11 and they made it to the first round of the NCHSAA 2A East Regional. They finished in second-place in the SAC 6 standings last season with a record of 7-3 in conference action.
West Bladen will have key guys from last season back on the field for them this season to make a run for the SAC 6 title this season. Senior Garret Dunham claimed the Player of the Year Award last season with an impressive season behind the plate and on the mound. He held a 1.27 ERA on top of the hill and also batted .338 for 23 hits. Senior Brady Durden will also return to the diamond for the Knights and he’ll be a key guy in the pitching rotation once more. Durden pitched a 0.98 ERA, which ranked him second lowest ERA on the team last spring.
Junior Hunter Hester and sophomore Ashton Davis will also be big bats in the line-up come this season as they were amongst the best hitters in the Knights line-up last season. The Knights will also hit the road against Lumberton on Friday to conclude their opening week. West Bladen will travel down the road to take on their cross-county rivals of East Bladen on March 7th.
The Knights first SAC 6 match-up will be on the road against St. Pauls on March 25th and they’ll host St. Pauls two days later. Their final conference games will be slated for April 29th at home against Red Springs and they’ll conclude their regular-season against Red Springs on May 2nd. They are slated to take on the defending conference champions, Midway on April 8th and April 11th.
Midway has won the last three SAC 6 titles and they’ve been the big dawgs of the region for several years. West Bladen defeated the Raiders in a 6-1 victory at home for the first time in over three seasons. The Knights will host East Bladen for their final non-conference meeting of the season on May 1st. The first round of the NCHSAA 2A State Playoffs will commence on Tuesday, May 6th.