East Bladen baserunners getting instructions from their first-base coach.
Alex Brooks | Bladen Journal
Both schools’ baseball teams won their games on Thursday.
East Bladen
FAIRMONT — The East Bladen Eagles defeated the Fairmont Golden Tornadoes for a 10-4 victory on Thursday in a SAC 7 clash. The Eagles’ line-up racked up 18 hits in their away victory and tacked on six runs in the sixth inning. East Bladen junior right-hander Jake Futrell threw a complete game and finished the night with the win.
The Eagles seniors led by example at the plate with Marlen Davis, Evan Pait, Weston Hatcher, and Garrett Tatum going 3-for-4 on the night. Pait finished with three RBIs and a homerun to stand out in a great hitting night for the Eagles. East Bladen senior first basemen Zamar Lewis had a good game as well with three runs scored and he had a 2-for-4 night at the plate.
Senior Nate Jones and sophomore Mynkoda Smith shared the mound for the Golden Tornadoes in the loss. They combined for six strikeouts and allowed 14 hits in seven innings of work. Senior Noah Parker and sophomore Kenley Callahan both finished 2-for-4 at the plate but couldn’t rally the Golden Tornadoes late. Fairmont and East Bladen split the series with each other as both squads picked up their victories away from home.
East Bladen climbed up a spot in the standings with the win and sit in fifth place of the SAC 7 standings with five games remaining. The Eagles will visit the last place Red Springs Red Devils on Tuesday for their next game.
West Bladen
RED SPRINGS — The West Bladen Knights defeated the Red Springs Red Devils for a 17-10 victory on Thursday in a SAC 7 match-up. The Knights exploded for a 10-run outing in the fifth inning to snatch away their opponents early lead. Senior Hunter Smith was the catalyst with a 2-for-4 night and batted home 5-RBI’s to help the Knights overcome their opponents. Junior Andre Moore brought home three Knights with a triple.
The pitching duties were split between sophomores Garrett Dunham, Cade Allen, and senior Garrison Carr. Allen is credited with the win and he struck out two of the ten batters he faced in 2.1 innings of work. West Bladen is in a two-way tie for second place with the St. Pauls’ Bulldogs in the standings but the two teams will go head-to-head this Tuesday. The Bulldogs will come into “The Castle” game on a two win run after beating Clinton 13-8 over the last two games.
Both teams are capable of putting runs on the board and the next two games between these teams will be decided on command of the mound. The Knights are averaging around 7.6 runs these past five games and will look to ride the momentum of routing Red Springs both home and away. However, the season is coming down to the wire and these next two weeks for West Bladen will be crucial as they play the top two teams in the SAC 7.