Isaiah Lee liked the first pitch he saw.
The senior first baseman lined it into the gap for a game-winning double Monday night as East Bladen rallied to beat rival West Bladen 10-9 in a non-conference baseball game on Russell Priest Field.
Lee’s hit scored Jayce Hatcher, who had tied it with a two-run double, two-out double in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The six pitchers — three for each side — combined to walk 18 batters and hit six others in a game that took nearly three hours and played with strong winds blowing out to center- and left-fields for most of the game.
Monday’s result gave the Eagles a split of the two-game season series. West Bladen won 14-8 on March 13.
Master sports schedule | Standings
East Bladen (4-4, 2-0 Carolina) is scheduled to resume Carolina Conference play Tuesday at home against a winless Union team (0-11) that has been outscored 258-8, then play at Lakewood on Thursday.
West Bladen (7-3) is set to open Southeastern Conference play on Tuesday at Whiteville, then host the Wolfpack on Thursday.
West Bladen had opened a 9-7 lead with a pair of runs in the sixth in Monday’s contest. J.T. Hepler drew a one-out walk and courtesy runner Brady Marlowe advanced to second on a wild pickoff attempt. Ashton Davis followed with a double to left that scored Marlowe. After Hunter Hester was hit by a pitch, Chase Bryan lined a single to left that drove home Davis.
That set the stage for East Bladen’s last at-bat rally. After a strikeout, Easton Bostic walked and Zach Sholar singled. After another strikeout, Hatcher ripped his double over the head of the left fielder that plated pinch-runner Omar Powell and Sholar that tied it at 9-all.
Lee won it on the next pitch.
Cade Rogers pitched a scoreless seventh inning for East Bladen and received credit for the win. Bostic pitched the first three innings and allowed six runs on seven hits with a strikeout and two walks. Davion Lewis pitched three innings and yielded three runs on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
Hepler, the West Bladen catcher, moved to the mound in the second inning and pitched 5.1 innings, allowing four hits and four runs (three earned), with eight strikeouts and three walks. Jared Smith started for the Knights, but struggled with his control, walking five along with a hit and yielding five earned runs before being lifted in the first inning. Chase Bryan walked four of the seven batters he faced and allowed a run before Hepler went from behind the plate to the mound.
Sholar was 2-for-2 with three walks and three runs scored for East Bladen. Jaxon Hair had a two-run single in the first.
For West Bladen, Chase Bryan was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a pair of runs driven in. Hester was 2-for-2 with a double. Hepler drove home two runs with a first-inning single and then had a sacrifice fly in the second.
West Bladen scored three times in its first at-bat on hits by Tyler Lewis, Hepler and Chase Bryan along with a wild pitch.
East Bladen used seven walks and Hair’s two-run single in the bottom of the first to take a 5-3 lead.
After each team scored a run in the second, West Bladen used back-to-back doubles by Hester and Chase Bryan and run-scoring ground outs by Jackson Smith and Jonah Bryan that tied it at 6-all.
The score was tied at 7 after five innings.
JV: East Bladen 12, West Bladen 9
East Bladen sent 18 batters to the plate and scored 12 runs in the first inning.
West Bladen then sent 12 batters to the plate and scored eight runs in the second inning.
The Knights added a run in the fourth on an Aidan Thompson single and had two runners on base when the game was called because of the time limit.
Chandler Wall had two hits, including a double, for East Bladen (2-4). Zee Pone, Fox Sutton, Gunner Lewis, Ryne Priest, Damion Maynor and Lakota Schmale each had a hit.
Gaston Russ opened the game with a triple for West Bladen (4-5), but was left stranded. Thompson and Graylen Robinson each had two hits. Sawyer King, Luke Bryant, Devan Stanley, Stryker Pait each had a hit.
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