West Bladen Brady Durden on the mound.
Alex Brooks | Bladen Journal
LUMBERTON — West Bladen defeats Lumberton for a 14-8 victory on Monday night in the Junior American Legion. Garrett Dunham exploded for a 3-for-5 batting night to lead the West Bladen lineup and Brady Durden pitched three innings without allowing a hit. Dunham’s first time in the batter box was a single to center field and Durden got on base with an error. Cade Allen followed it up with a single to right before another error plated Dunham, Durden and himself.
Lumberton was able to shake off the mistakes made at the top of the inning and scored a run on a passed ball. The game stayed scoreless until Lumberton put up seven runs on the board in the bottom of the third inning to take the lead at 8-3. The fireworks continued during West Bladen’s half of the fourth inning with five runs crossing home plate to tie the game at 8-8. Durden smacked a two RBI single to left field to highlight the high scoring inning.
Lumberton’s lineup stalled and West Bladen’s offense kept piling on the runs in the fifth inning. Gavin Elks and Tyler Lewis showed discipline at the plate to draw walks before crossing home plate to take a 10-8 lead. Durden kept the Lumberton bats in check with his command on the mound as West Bladen ran away with the game.
West Bladen moved to 2-3 and will face Hobbton for their next game in the Junior American Legion.