FAYETTEVILLE — Resilient to trouble in the first inning, West Bladen pushed hard against a strong 3-A high school baseball program Saturday.
A tough left-hander and a late insurance run dealt the pivotal damage, sending the Knights to a 6-2 defeat against host Terry Sanford in the opening round of the Bulldog Invitational. West Bladen will face East Bladen on the consolation side of the bracket Monday at 1 p.m.
“That’s a very good 3-A team,” said Knights’ head coach John Ammons of the 15-2 Bulldogs from the Patriot Conference.
And it was one that had all the momentum in the bottom of the first with three runs across, the bases loaded with two outs and its No. 9 hitter to the plate. A fly to right squelched the rally, the Three Rivers Conference challengers settled in and they eventually found some hits against Cruise Herz.
“He mixed his pitches, going inside and out,” Ammons said. “We hit several right at people. They made the routine plays, and they made a couple of very good plays.”
And the Knights (6-13) stayed within striking distance behind senior Derrick Long, who worked the final four innings on the mound allowing just an unearned run and scattering four hits. Junior right-hander Logan West departed trailing 4-0, his day deflated by a failure to command the strike zone early in the counts.
“Derrick pitched really well,” Ammons said. “He really helped us out.”
Junior center fielder Dawson Bryan’s running catch in the second inning and Long’s fielding of a line drive to the box, resulting in a double play at second base, highlighted the Knights’ defense. The Bulldogs were buoyed by plays on back-to-back pitches over the first and second innings, center fielder Dorian Clark coming in hard to snag senior Jeremy Pait’s fly ball and third baseman Marc Sanchez going to a knee in the hole to take away a hit from junior Braylon Williamson.
Senior David Valenta’s clean single to center leading off the fifth inning broke up Herz’ bid for a no-hitter. The Knights put two runners on with one out but were denied by a fielder’s choice and a fly to left.
The guests struck in the sixth with West’s double to right landed just inside the foul line, an infield hit was legged out by junior Nolan Bryant and Pait lifted a sacrifice fly. Bryant was stranded at second base with the deficit 5-1.
Terry Sanford scored in the sixth, and West Bladen rallied in the seventh with two outs and nobody on. Senior Shawn Oxendine, in the ninth spot, doubled over the left fielder’s head. He scored when senior Dalton Pait’s grounder was inaccurately thrown and a subsequent throw on the play from near third base hit Oxendine in the back as he began to slide home.
“We really competed after the first inning,” Ammons said. “I saw some good things.”
Terry Sanford’s three-run first included a run-scoring single from Jackson Deaver and two runs scoring when Clark’s infield grounder was thrown past first base. Deaver’s two-out infield single in the second plated DavidJohn Herz, who led off with a double.
Justin Ebert, who pitched the seventh, drove in a run with a single in the sixth.
“We wanted to see good arms, face good teams,” Ammons said. “It’s a really good venue, very good programs over here. It’s where we want to be.”
Logan West spins and fires to first baseman Braylon Williamson, catching DavidJohn Herz off first base in the first inning. Herz had led off with a walk after being behind 0-2 in the count.