LBWCC wins big conference series
Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 1, 2017
The LBWCC Saints’ baseball team picked up an 11-1 victory on Thursday over Bishop State to sweep the home conference series.
With the win, the Saints move to 24-6 on the season.
LBWCC jumped out front early in the final game and were able to coast to five-inning mercy rule victory.
In the bottom the first inning, Matt Jones got things going with a leadoff single to on hard ground ball up the middle of the diamond.
Harrison Morris moved Jones up to second base with his own single to center field.
The Saints then took the lead when Gunner Hendrix ripped a double to right field to score Jones from second.
Morris moved around to third on the double.
The Saints loaded up the bases after Matthew Christian was hit by a pitch.
Chauncey Callier drove in Morris, but didn’t pick up the RBI because he hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
At the end of one inning of play, the Saints were on top 2-0.
Bishop State’s lone run of the game came from a leadoff home run in the top of the second inning to cut the Saints’ lead to 2-1.
C Henderson started off the bottom of the second inning with a double, and then came around to score with ease when Ko Powell laced a triple down the line right.
Morris gave the Saints a 4-1 lead when he drove in Powell with an infield single.
Hendrix picked up his second hit of the game with a line-drive single to center, but the Saints were unable to bring him around to score.
Saints’ starting pitcher Tony Kucera struck out the first batter of the top of the third inning and then picked up the third out with another strikeout to end the Bishop State half of the frame.
Kucera continued the sharp work on the mound as he picked up another pair of strikeouts in the top of the fourth inning.
Jones drew a one-out walk to get things started for the Saints in bottom of the fourth inning and then moved up to second on single from Morris.
Jones then moved up to third on ground ball from Hendrix and then came around to score off of a wild pitch.
Callier then blistered a ball to right side of the infield that caused an error and led to Morris scoring to put the Saints on top 6-1.
The Saints continued to surge as Trey McMillian launched a ball to center for a two-RBI triple.
Casey Henderson followed with a single on a ground ball to center that scored McMillian with ease.
After Henderson advanced to third on a wild pitch, Jake Stamps roped a single to center to score Henderson for a 10-1 Saints’ advantage.
Kucera limited Bishop State to just one runner in the top of the fifth inning and picked up another strikeout on the way to retiring the side.
Jones drew a walk to start the bottom of the fifth inning for the Saints.
Morris moved Jones into scoring position with a roller to short for the first out of the inning.
Hendrix then drove a pitch to right for a double, but Jones was held up at third base.
With the game on the line, Bishop State set up a force at every bag by intentionally walking Kolton Atchley.
The intentional walk loaded up the bases for Callier with one-out in the inning.
Callier wasted no time at the plate as he ripped the first pitch he saw into right for a single that scored Jones for the game’s winning run.
Hendrix and Morris each finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with one RBI in the Saints’ victory.
McMillian finished with two RBIs and was 2-for-3 at the dish.
Callier, Henderson, Stamps and Powell drove in one run each for the Saints.
Kucera picked up the win on the mound for the Saints as he tossed a complete game.
In five innings of work, Kucera struck out six batters while only giving up three hits and one earned run.
The Saints will be back in action when the travel to take on Faulkner State CC on April 6.