East Bladen postseason review

TUESDAY

ELIZABETHTOWN- The 10th-seeded East Bladen Eagles defeated the 23rd-seeded Tarboro Vikings for a 10-0 victory in the first round of the NCHSAA 1A state playoffs last Tuesday. East Bladen right-hander Jake Futrell pitched a 1-hit shutout through five innings of work to help get the host over the line in a comfortable victory. Lee Barnes and Carson Gooden both led the Eagles in slugging with 2-for-3 performances at the plate, with each of them responsible for two RBI’s.

The Eagles first run of the evening crossed the plate in the bottom of the first inning after a fielding error allowed Jmarius Smith to cross the plate with little resistance. The Vikings were able to get two straight outs but their opponents continued to pile on the score. Barnes smacked an RBI-double to right-field and Barnes was able to score the third run on a fielding error.

Tyler Johnson led-off with a walk for the Eagle in their next at-bat in their half of the second inning. Smith stepped up to the plate and brought home Smith with an RBI-single to stretch the host lead to 4-0. Tarboro’s lineup continued to struggle to make contact with the baseball and the top of the third inning would end fruitless.

The Eagles went back to scoring in the bottom of the fourth adding three more runs to their score tally as the game was firmly in their grasp at 7-0. East Bladen closed the game out with Britt Sasser on top of the mound and he struck out two batters to earn the save.

FRIDAY

ROXBORO-The seventh-seeded Roxboro Community Bulldogs defeated the 10th-seeded East Bladen Eagles for a 12-2 victory in the second round of the NCHSAA 1A state playoffs. Roxboro Community relied on the arm-strength of senior Carver Pleasant to keep the Eagles line-up at bay though a little over four innings of work.

Junior Blake Vermon finished the evening with a 3-for-3 performance at the plate and was responsible for three RBI’s in the second round victory. East Bladen was led by Lee Barnes in slugging with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate and he was responsible for an RBI. Roxboro continues their season against the number-two seeded Wilson Prep Tigers in the third round.

East Bladen season ends with an overall record of 13-12 and they finished tied for second in the Waccamaw Conference with a record of 8-4.