The Preston Pirate varsity fall baseball team closed out their regular-season schedule this past Monday evening with a 12-4 home victory over the Moss Pirates.
The Preston Pirate varsity fall baseball team closed out their regular-season schedule this past Monday evening with a 12-4 home victory over the Moss Pirates.
The Preston diamond squad, who entered the regular-season finale ranked 7th in Class A, was scheduled to begin postseason play on Thursday, hosting Varnum and Prue in a 3-team, double-elimination Class A district tournament.
The Pirates’ first postseason contest was scheduled to take place Thursday at 2 p.m. against the Varnum Whippets, followed by a showdown with the Prue Rockets Thursday at 4 p.m.
In Monday’s regular-season finale, both teams tallied a run in their half of the first for a 1-1 tie after one inning of play.
The host Preston squad plated four runs in the home half of the second for a 5-1 advantage, then added four more in the fourth to lead by eight, 9-1, heading into the fifth inning.
Moss tallied a run in its half of the fifth, then added three more in the sixth to make it a 9-4 contest.
Preston pushed across three runs in the last of the sixth to bring the regular- season finale to a close on the run rule, 12-4.
The Preston offensive attack against Moss was led by the trio of Bradley Winford (2 for 3, 2 singles, RBI), Easton Shaw (2 for 3, single, double, RBI), and Hunter McElhannon (2 for 4, 2 singles, RBI) with two hits apiece.
The other Pirate base hits in the regular-season finale came on singles by Kellen Dean and Braxton Kennedy, RBI singles by Luke Hankins and Waylon Cope, and 2-run single by Kaden Dean.
Other Preston baserunners against Moss were Winford (walk, error), Hankins (walk), Shaw (walk), Kennedy (walk), Cope (walk), and Kaden Dean (hit by pitch).
Hankins and Kellen Dean drove in runs on sacrifice flies in the contest in the first and fourth innings, respectively.
McElhannon was awarded the pitching win for Preston on Monday, giving up four runs on five hits, striking out 10, walking one, and hitting a batter in five innings of work.
Kennedy took over the pitching duties for the host Pirates in the sixth, striking out one in his perfect inning of relief work.
--- Preston 12, Moss 4
Moss: 1-0-0-0-1-2 4-5-3 Preston:1-4-0-4-0-3 12 - 11 - 1 WP: Hunter McElhannon LP: Hernandez HR: Moss: Orozco