DUBLIN – Junior Scott Bowen pitched 3.1 innings of scoreless relief and belted 3 hits as West Bladen rallied for a 15-8 Four County Conference baseball victory over Clinton Friday night.
Bowen took the mound with 2-out and 2 runners in scoring position in the Dark Horses fourth inning and struck out the first batter he faced to end the inning with Clinton ahead 8-4.
Bowen struck out 4 more batters, walked one and allowed only 2 hits over the final 3 innings. “Scott came through for us,” said Knight Coach Kim Cain. “He threw the ball really well.”
Freshman Logan West reached second base on an error in the Knight half of the fourth, moved up on a wild pitch and dashed home on another wild pitch to trim the Clinton lead to 8-5.
Senior Trent West was hit by a pitch, and Bowen laced a single to rightfield to start the Knight fifth inning. Senior Caleb Sholar’s sacrifice bunt advanced both runners. Trent West scored when Logan West raked a single through the left side, and Bowen darted home on a wild pitch.
Logan West raced all the way to third base on one wild pitch and scored the tying run as senior Hunter Pait’s grounder was booted by the Clinton defense.
After Bowen struck out the side in the Clinton sixth, the Knights exploded for 7 runs in the bottom of the inning. Trent West reached on an error and took second base on a wild pitch. Bowen lined a single to right-centerfield that scored Trent West with the go-ahead run.
Sholar reached base on an error, and 2 outs later, Pait drilled a single to centerfield that drove in Bowen. Senior Weston Pidgeon walked, and senior T. J. Guyton was hit by a pitch to force home Sholar.
Senior Jarrett Williams lofted a pop-up to the left side that the third baseman and pitcher let drop between them allowing Pait to score. Trent West crushed a triple to left-centerfield that drove in Pidgeon, Guyton and Williams for a 15-8 West Bladen lead.
Bowen batted 3-5 with a triple, 2 runs batted in and 4 runs scored to lead the Knight hitters. Trent West finished 2-4 with a triple, 4 rbi’s and 3 runs scored. Pidgeon, Guyton, Williams, Logan West, Ian Sykes and Pait added one hit each.
Pidgeon, Williams, Logan West, Sykes and Pait had an rbi each. Williams and Logan West scored 2 runs each, and Pidgeon, Guyton, Sholar and Pait scored one run each.
The Dark Horses scored 2 runs in the top of the first on Charles Jordan’s single, 3 straight walks and a sacrifice fly. Skyler Cannady’s single, a hit batter, an error and a sacrifice fly produced another Clinton run in the second inning.
The Knights trimmed the margin to 3-1 in the second. Bowen reached base on an error, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Sykes’ infield hit.
Sykes, the Knights starting pitcher, was relieved by junior Trey Storms after giving up a single and hitting a batter to begin the third inning. Jordan raked a seeing-eye, 2-out single to leftfield to pad the Clinton lead to 5-1.
West Bladen rallied with 2 outs in the third. Williams drew a walk, and Trent West launched a towering pop-up that completely eluded the shortstop. Bowen walloped a triple over the centerfielder’s head that scored Williams and Trent West. Bowen sprinted home on the play when the relay throw was bobbled to slice the lead to 5-4.
A 2-out error scored one Clinton run in the top of the fourth, and Cannady’s 2-run double stretched their lead to 8-4.
Jordan and Zack Parker both batted 2-3 to lead the Clinton hitters. Cannady finished 2-4 at the plate with the 2-run double. Greylon Barwick, the second Clinton pitcher of the night, took the loss.
“We couldn’t get the ball over the plate early,” said Coach Cain. “At the plate we were getting ourselves out early, but we came up with a couple of big 2-out hits down the stretch. The kids didn’t quit.”
It was the seventh straight win for the Knights who sit atop the Four County standings with a 5-0 record and a 7-3 overall mark. West Bladen travels to Midway Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game.
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