Broncos roll in twin bill – Season ends with sweep of Eagles

Boyd?s middle school baseball team wrapped up its inaugural season Friday at Edley Newman Field in style, taking a doubleheader sweep from Van Buren County.

The Broncos rallied from an early deficit to win the opener 9-4, then erupted after falling behind 4-0 to take the nightcap 14-4.

Game 1 saw Van Buren take an early lead, when Shelton Hitchcock grounded into a fielder?s choice, allowing the Eagle leadoff man to score from third.

Boyd countered in the bottom of the inning, however, when its own leadoff batter, Logan Walker, walked and stole second before taking third on a passed ball and scoring on a single from Kaleb Tilton.

Van Buren added another run in the top of the second to go up 2-1, but a four-run frame by the Broncos put Boyd on top for good.

Grayson Woods singled with one out and later scored on a wild pitch, Logan Hartman walked and scored on a two-out error, and Logan McCormack came home on a single by Tilton, who later came home when a pickoff attempt was thrown away to put Boyd on top 5-2.

In the fourth, Walker got things started with a one-out single, and scored from third on a McCormack grounder after reaching second on a passed ball and stealing a base. Tilton doubled to right with two outs, J.T. Morgan and Conner Dixon walked, and after a wild pitch plated Tilton Aaron Taylor doubled to the center-field fence, bringing in two more runs.

Van Buren scored two in the top of the fifth off Morgan, who had come on in relief of Tilton, but with runners at the corners Donovan Troglen grounded out to the mound to end the game.

Tilton worked four innings of two-hit ball, striking out four on his way to the win. He helped his cause with a 3-for-3 game at the plate, while Taylor had a pair of hits.

In the second game, the Eagles got to starting pitcher Grayson Woods for four runs in the first, but Boyd answered with a three-run second, with Morgan, Taylor and Woods all scoring during the frame.

The hit parade kept going in the third, as the Broncos sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring seven more runs thanks to hits by Cody Fults, McCormack, Dixon and Woods.

After Woods fanned the side in the top of the fourth, the Broncos padded their lead in their half of the frame, with Tilton being hit by a pitch and scoring on a triple by Morgan, who later came home on Walker?s single. Taylor doubled with two out in the frame, scoring on a Woods hit for the game?s final run.

Woods pitched four innings on his way to the win, striking out seven batters before giving way to Dixon, who walked the first batter he faced before fanning the next three.