ELIZABETHTOWN – The Heide Trask Titans defeated the East Bladen Eagles for a 2-0 victory last Tuesday in a Waccamaw Conference clash. The Titans got an excellent performance on top of the mound from sophomore left-hander Jackson Sadler as he held the Eagles to one hit and earned the shutout victory on a complete game. Sadler went into the bottom of the second inning protecting a 1-0 lead and the Titans got out of the inning unscathed after three straight outs. East Bladen sophomore right-hander Jayce Hatcher faced freshmen Chance Kibby for the first at-bat of the third inning.
Kibby proceeded to smack a double to left-field to place a runner in scoring position for the visitors. Hatcher stood tall on the mound and he struck out the next batter he faced for the first out. Junior Brantley Lunsford grounded-out to first for the second out but Kibby was able to advance to third base. The Titans were able to get their second run of the afternoon across the plate with an RBI-double from Cooper Uhland.
Sadler returned to the mound at the bottom of the inning and he made quick work of the Eagles lineup with three straight strikeouts to conclude the third. Hatcher held firm on top of the hill as the host got out of the fourth inning with a solid response in the field. East Bladen led-off their next at-bat with a walk but failed to make contact when needed most to finish their half of the fourth with no runs. Uhland led the Titans in the slugging department with a 3-for-3 evening against East Bladen last Tuesday in the victory.
East Bladen suffered a loss to the South Columbus Stallions the following day in a 12-0 defeat at home. The Eagles closed their week out on the road against Heide Trask and they bounced back with an explosive day in the batting box as they earned a 16-11 victory. Heide Trask senior Trey Cheatham went 2-for-4 at the plate and he was responsible for five RBI’s in the Titans defeat last Thursday. The Titans rotated three different pitchers in the defeat against East Bladen.
East Bladen’s overall record moved to 5-7 and they currently are tied for third-place in the Waccamaw Conference standings with East Columbus at 4-4. Heide Trask earned their first win in conference action last week as they moved to a record of 1-5 and they clashed with an undefeated South Columbus squad. The Stallions extended their win-streak to 10 games after defeating the West Columbus Vikings for a 4-0 victory away from home last Thursday.
South Columbus will clash with Heide Trask for their next two games, this Tuesday and Thursday. East Bladen will go toe-to-toe with West Columbus for their next two games in Waccamaw Conference action. The Vikings are led by Brennan Little in the slugging department as he’s hitting .486 so far this season and he has a homer run to his name. West Columbus go into this week sitting in fourth behind the Eagles by two games.
The Whiteville Wolfpack suffered their first loss in conference against East Columbus last Tuesday in a 4-3 defeat. However, Whiteville bounced back with a 12-1 victory over East Columbus on Thursday but they fell to second-place in the standings, just a game behind South Columbus in first. The Wolfpack are slated to take on the winless Pender Patriots on Tuesday in conference action and they travel to West Bladen on Wednesday for a non-conference showdown.