The Williamsburg Yellow Jackets tried to make a run in the 13th Region All “A” Baseball Tournament without its four seniors who where on their senior trip. The Yellow Jackets ran past the hapless Pineville Lions, 10-2, but lost to the Middlesboro Yellow Jackets, 14-1.
“I thought the kids came out and played really hard,” said Williamsburg Coach John Mountjoy. “We got a great pitching performance from Jonathan Teague. It was his first ever varsity appearance on the mound and he threw a complete game, he gave up six hits and pitched really well.”
“We started two eighth graders and they played well all things considered,”
said Mountjoy. “We played pretty well in the Pineville game.
Williamsburg scored seven runs in the top of the second and took control of the game. Spencer Brown was hit by a pitch to start the onslaught. Micah Purdie followed with a base hit before Pineville’s Kyle Capps hit Hunter Williams with a pitch.
Donnie Bowlin drove in the first run of the game with a fielder’s choice to short. Jared Barton was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Skyer Griffith, an eighth grader, answered with a three-run triple to give Williamsburg a 4-0 lead.
Before the inning ended, the Jackets added three more runs as Griffith scored on a Teague base hit. Ethan Powers drew a walk followed by a Dylan Rose base hit that loaded the bases for Brown’s second appearance at the plate in the inning. Brown hit a sacrifice fly that allowed Teague to score the sixth run of the inning. Powers raced across the plate on a passed ball before Purdie struck out to end the inning.
The Jackets added a run in the second as Bowlin had a one-out single then went to third on a Barton base hit. He scored on a wild pitch to give Williamsburg an 8-0 lead.
Pineville scored a run in the bottom of the fourth to get on the scoreboard.
The Jackets had an opportunity to close out the game early in the sixth inning when Williams and Bowlin scored to put the Jackets ahead, 10-1. Barton tried to score on a Powers hit, but was called out at the plate.
Pineville scored one in the bottom of the seventh for the final score.
Barton took the mound against the Middlesboro Yellow Jackets and held his own against the 52nd District favorites. Barton struck out two of the four batters he faced, but ran into some problems in the second. He gave up seven runs on four hits while his teammates committed three huge errors.
“He came out with good stuff and was looking good, but we had to get seven outs in the second inning. The errors really killed him. He started over throwing and walked some players and it just snowballed from there,” said Mountjoy.
Barton gave up 11 runs on eight hits and five Williamsburg errors. Bowlin came on in the fourth for an inning and Powers threw the fifth for the Jackets, giving up the final three runs of the 14-1 loss.
Middlesboro’s Fred Capps allowed just one run on two base hits. Powers led off the bottom of the fifth with a one-out single. He stole second and went to third on a Bowling base hit then scored on a passed ball.
Williamsburg 10, Pineville 2
Williamsburg 710 002 0- 10 7 2
Pineville 000 100 1- 2 6 1
Teague and Short. Capps and Ford. W-Teague, L-Capps. 2B-Griffith (W).
Middlesboro 074 03- 14 10 5
Williamsburg 000 01- 1 1 6
Capps and Brock. Barton, Bowling, Powers and Short. W-Capps, LP-Jones. 2B-Epperson (M).
