Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
MAN Hunter Gibson and Braxton Messer each drove in four runs and Man used a five-run first inning to coast to a 13-3 five-inning victory Wednesday evening at William "Tootie" Carter Athletic Field.
Messer was 4-for-4 with two triples, a double, three runs and four RBIs. Gibson finished 2-for-3 at the dish and drove in four runs for the Hillbillies.
Man improved to 5-1 and won for the third straight time. Mingo Central lost its fourth straight game and fell to 2-4.
The Hillbillies sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning, Cam Gerace had a run-scoring single to start the scoring, Messer followed with an RBI single, Gibson drove in two runs with a single of his own and the fifth and final run came across the plate on a Mingo Central fielding error.
Brayden Compton got the win, giving up one hit and striking out five in three innings of work.
Messer and Gibson each had run-scoring singles in the Hillbilly second to push Man's advantage to 7-0. Gavin Bartram scored on a throwing error to make it 8-0 in the third.
Mingo Central scored two runs in the fourth on Josiah Hatcher's two-run single to cut the deficit to 8-2.
Man plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth getting a run-scoring single from Gibson and an RBI double off the bat of Landon Cantrell. Braxton Sword scored on a balk and Man led 11-2 after four innings.
Tyler Mitchem singled in the fifth to cut the deficit to 11-3. In the bottom of the fifth, Bo Thompson and Gerace walked to begin the inning and came around to score on Messer's walk off two-run double to give Man a 13-3 win.
Mitchem took the loss giving up seven runs on seven hits with one strikeout and one walk in two innings. Mitchem went 2-for-2 at the plate with one RBI and Hatcher finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs for the Miners. Keziah Joplin and Dylan Vance each had one hit.
Cantrell went 2-for-2 with a double, scored twice and drove in one run. Bartram had one hit and scored two runs, Gavyn Cline had a double and Thompson crossed the play twice for the Hillbillies.