Pioneers can’t find answer for Blackman pitching
David Price took matters into his own hands Thursday night to lead the Blackman Blaze to a 8-3 win over the Pioneers at Patrick Ramsey Field.
The lanky sophomore hurled a complete-game four-hitter, and picked up a pair of hits of his own, driving in five runs.
Price, who improved to 4-0 while helping his squad up its record to 7-6 overall and 4-1 in District 7-AAA play, fanned nine Pioneer batters and walked just one. He was untouchable for all but the fourth inning, when Warren County struck for three runs on a walk and a pair of Blackman errors.
Jake Mitchell walked to lead off the fourth, and Daniel Owens reached on an error.
Zach Pelham attempted to bunt the runners over, and Mitchell scored when Blackman’s catcher’s throw to first went into right field. Joey Haston drove in Owens on a groundout to second.
With John Morrison at the plate the Pioneers put on the squeeze play, sending Pelham charging home from third. And although the bunt signal was missed by Morrison, who took the pitch, Pelham got a good enough jump on the play to steal home and score the Pioneers third run.
Pelham, Owens, Derek Kennamer and Matt Brown had the Pioneers’ only hits in the contest.
Price and catcher Chad Kerley each finished 2-for-3 for Blackman, while leadoff man Ahmir Watkins was 2-for-2 with three runs scored.
While Price alone drove in all the runs Blackman would need, he got plenty of help from the rest of the Blaze lineup, which got to Warren County starter Ryan Vincion for seven hits and took advantage of five Pioneer errors through the first four innings of play.
Vincion struck out six Blackman batters over 5-1/3 innings, but the errors proved costly, as only three of the eight runs scored against the Pioneers’ senior ace were earned. Colby Jenkins worked the final 1-2/3 innings, fanning one batter and allowing two hits.
“Ryan pitched well, if we just would’ve backed him up,” said head coach Jimmy Walker. “Our defense just once again didn’t back up our pitchers early in the game.
“I think we hit on something near the end of the game, though. We made a couple of plays, and if we had been in the game — if it had been 4-3 instead of 7-3, who knows.”