Published: May 21, 2008 01:35 pm            

East rips past Elliott

WEST LIBERTY - Dylan McDavid struck out 10 of the 15 Elliott County outs as East Carter rolled the Lions, 12-1, in five innings Monday night in the opening round of the 62nd District Tournament. The win sends the Raiders into tonight’s championship game.

The right-hander fanned the first two batters he faced then East Carter first baseman Eddie Seagraves snagged a pop-up for the final out of the top of the first inning. East got its first score in the bottom of the opening frame when Derek Stapleton singled the 1-1 pitch to center then stole second and third before sliding in home on a past ball.

After a line out to second baseman Tommy Carper in the top of the second, McDavid sat two more down on strikes.

“I was wanting to get a head of ‘em and throw strikes,” McDavid told The Journal-Times after the win.

“I wanted to throw strikes and let ‘em hit the ball to our defense, but not to walk anyone. I thought I started out strong but the conditions affected me a little bit.”

But not much.

In spite of the constant drizzle and the 50-degreee temperatures, McDavid continued to keep the outmatched Lions in check. The Raiders owned a pair of mercy-rule wins over Elliott County from earlier in the regular season.

“You can’t put a team like East Carter on base like this,” Lion coach Scooter Charles said of the five-error, seven-walk effort. “We can’t do that – East Carter is up there with Greenup as the best teams in the region and just can’t give them that many extra bases. We kept changing pitchers to try to keep them off balance but defensively we fell apart on a few plays.”

The Raiders harassed starter Jeremy Wagoner (first of three Lion pitchers) from the mound in a 7-run at bat in the bottom of the second. Craig Brammer led off the side with a walk then moved to second on Preston Salyers’ single to left. Nate Carroll walked and on ball four, Branmer barreled in, 2-0. Carper boarded on balls next to load the bases with Raiders. Tyler Jackson smacked the first of two hits for a 2-run shot to center and the 4-0 lead. Stapleton walked then McDavid hit into a fielder’s choice and the 5-0 lead. Tyler Back’s contact was bobbled by the Elliott County infielder and two more came in, 7-0. Seagraves smacked seven foul balls before walking then Brammer belted an RBI-single for the 8-0 lead.

Even in the cold rain…!

“It’s hard to get your mind into it when the conditions are like this,” Stapleton said. “You just want to come out and get the early lead – we’ve got to put the bat on the ball a lot better in the final.”

Elliott County pushed one run across in the fourth, but Jeremiah Shearer’s Raiders nailed down the win with three more runs in the bottom half of the frame. McDavid struck out the first two Lions in the fifth then got the final out to pop up to Stapleton at short.

East takes the field against hosting Morgan County, the defending district champ, in tonight’s title game.

“We’ve got to come into each game we play prepared,” Seagraves said. “Hit the ball, pitchers throw strikes and play good in the field – we just need to be a solid baseball team and we’ll be successful.”

        

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