E.A. Sports Today

Putting up zeroes

Baseball roundup: Barnett pitches White Plains to a split; Oxford, Jacksonville spin shutouts; Clay Central, Faith Christian win wild ones

TUESDAY’S BASEBALL SCORES
Regular season
Faith Christian 17, Victory Christian 8

Choccolocco Park Spring Experience
Calera 14, White Plains 0
Clay Central 25, Wellborn 18 
Oxford 10, Wetumpka 0
Jacksonville 9, Ragland 0
White Plains 2, Donoho 0

By East Alabama Sports Today

OXFORD –
The White Plains baseball team needed a win “in the biggest way” and the Duke delivered.

Duke Barnett pitched a complete-game five-hit shutout as the Wildcats blanked Donoho 2-0 to split their Tuesday at Choccolocco Park and snap a season-long six-game losing streak.

The slide hit its peak earlier in the day when Calera’s Preston Stokes handcuffed the Wildcats in a five-inning perfect game 14-0.

But Barnett saved the day by scattering five singles, walking two and striking out eight. The Falcons had only four runners reach scoring position against him, but only one with less than two outs.

The Wildcats scored both their runs in the fifth inning with four straight two-out hits, including RBI singles by Jaden Chatman and Josh Ortiz-Lindsey.

“Battled all game long and pitching coach Miles Masters did a great job calling pitches and (Barnett) executed,” White Plains coach Chandler Tyree said. “We made the routine plays and didn’t make errors, and we battled enough at the plate to scratch across some runs. I thought their pitcher (Slade Haney) threw a great game, too.

“We needed that in the biggest way. I’m so happy for our kids and hopefully we can continue to build on it tomorrow.”

In the Wildcats’ first game of the day, Stokes retired all 15 batters he faced. He threw 57 pitches, 41 for strikes, and struck out eight. He went to three balls on only two White Plains hitters and had no plays fielded by outfielders.

Oxford 10, Wetumpka 0: Trey Higgins went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Carter Johnson had two hits and Trey Mooney and R.J. Brooks combined on a two-hit shutout. The Jackets broke it open with a nine-run third, sending 13 batters to the plate and at one point had eight straight reach base by hit or run-scoring walk.

Jacksonville 9, Ragland 0: Drew Pridgen had three hits, Christian Royster and Jacoby Zackery each drove in two runs and Dakota Willingham and Nathan Barnwell combined on a three-hit shutout.

Faith Christian 17, Victory Christian 8: Andrew Folsom and Brodie Dodson both homered and Brady Whitworth hit a go-ahead double and pitched four innings of no-hit relief as the Lions won their second area series of the season.

The Lions trailed 8-6 going into the bottom of the third, but took the lead for good with four in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by Whitworth’s two-run double. They added four in the fifth and three in the sixth while Whitworth was facing only one over the minimum.

Folsom drove in four runs, while Colton Pahman (3-for-4) and Whitworth had three RBIs each.

Clay Central 25, Wellborn 18: The Vols wiped out a 13-2 deficit with 11 runs in the fourth inning and then after Wellborn retook the lead in the bottom of the inning they scored 12 more over the next two innings.

In addition to the 43 runs, the teams combined for 33 hits, 20 walks and 13 errors, and five pitchers on each side combined to throw 374 pitches (Wellborn had 211).

Carter Young went 5-for-7 with five RBIs to lead the Vols’ attack. Keisen Lindsey went 3-for-3 with three RBIs. The Vols subbed in each of the last five spots in their lineup and those players were a combined 8-of-16 with 12 runs scored and nine RBIs.

Wellborn’s Brayden Dempsey went 3-for-5 with five RBIs, including a three-run double to make it 12-2 in the third. Beau Neely, Jett Smith, Kaden Goodwin, JoJo Wyatt and Brennan Talley all drove in two runs for the Panthers. 

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