WILLIAMSBURG — The baseball field at Williamsburg continues to be a house of horrors for the Middlesboro Yellow Jackets as far as play in the 13th Region All “A” Classic goes. Middlesboro committed seven errors and scored just one run in the first six innings in a 9-3 loss in Friday’s championship game.
Ethan Wilson held the Jackets to just one run on four hits over six innings to pick up the win. He struck out seven and walked three.
“He kept us off balance there and changed speeds good. He had some late movement on the ball and we kept chopping into the ground,” said MHS coach John Smith. “We left nine or ten runners on base and you can’t do that, especially in big games like this.”
Wilson also had an RBI single in the first inning to put Williamsburg up 1-0. Micah Purdie added a two-run single in the second and Ryan Bowlin a RBI single to stretch the lead to 4-0.
Middlesboro pushed across a run in the third when Brandon Hale reached on an error with two outs and Brian Hale was hit by a pitch. Lucas Crawford followed with an RBI single to make it 4-1.
But that was as close the the Jackets would get. Middlesboro committed three errors in the bottom of the third as Williamsburg scored three more runs. Purdie capped the inning with another RBI single to make it 7-0.
“Lucas didn’t have his best outing today. He kept falling behind hitters and going deep and when you do that the defense gets a little lax and back on their heels,” Smith said. “Then they put one in play and they find you. It always happens that way.”
Dalton Peace and Chris Sawyers added runs scoring hits in the fourth to chase Crawford. Brian Hale took over on the mound and held Williamsburg scoreless the rest of the way. Over the final 2-1/3 he struck out five and didn’t allow a hit or a walk.
But the damage was done.
Middlesboro got two runs in the seventh off Jon Teague. Jake Brock doubled and then scored on a Brian Hale base hit and Hale later scored on a wild pitch.
Middlesboro (4-2) host Corbin on Monday while Williamsburg (7-0) plays host to Berea today.
“We’d like to win a Class A state championship, don’t get me wrong, but we’ve still got a chance to play for the big one at the end of the year,” Smith said. “If we make it to the end in the big one, we’re be playing against the best teams in the state, not the best Class A ones. We’re going to be upset over this loss, but we’re going to come back Monday against Corbin. We’ve got bigger fish to fry, we’re going to put it behind us and move on.”
— — —
Middlesboro…001 000 2 — 3 6 7
Williamsburg…133 200 x — 9 8 3
Lucas Crawford, Brian Hale (4) and Tyler Prater; Ethan Wilson, Jon Teague and Micah Purdie. W — Wilson. L — Crawford.
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