Hawks cruise in 14-4A opener; Bolden throws a one-hitter in 10-0 win

Senior Caleb Bolden took matters into his own hands with a baseball and bat Saturday at Pleasant Grove's diamond.

The hard-throwing righty tossed a one-hitter on the hill with seven strikeouts, while contributing two doubles and a single at the plate in the Hawks' 10-0 romp over Pittsburg in their District 14-4A opener.

"Every day we go out we're looking to compete; we played Pittsburg four times last year, including the third round of the playoffs," PG coach Riley Fincher said. "We knew this was a big game for us. I thought we got an outstanding pitching performance from Caleb. Our guys fed off each other swinging the bat in the middle innings."

The fourth-ranked Hawks (17-2, 1-0) scored what would be the only run they needed in the second after a lead off walk to Carson Cox. He stole second, scoring one out later on Keaton Russo's single to left off Pirate ace Brett McGee.

Pleasant Grove got to McGee again in the fourth after Cox reached on an infield error. Tyler Jeans followed with a double, and both scored on another two-bagger by Conner Ouellette.

McGee moved to catcher in the fifth after throwing only 59 pitches. His replacement struggled, allowing seven runs on five hits over the next 1 2/3 innings.

"This is a good first win in district, but now all of our attention turns to playing at Paris Tuesday," Fincher said. "Tyler Jeans or Will Hlavinka will probably pitch Tuesday. We're going to do everything we can to get prepared for a good Paris team."

Pittsburg (15-4, 0-1) only had four baserunners in the game, one on an infield error, two walks and a single to right by Jace Wood in the third inning.

Wood relieved McGee at the start of the fifth and promptly retired the first two batters he faced on ground balls. However, two Pirate errors and consecutive singles by Bolden, Cox and Jeans made it, 6-0.

The scenario repeated itself in the sixth after two easy outs on grounders. Jackson Cobb walked on a 3-2 offering, with Cade Thompson and Heath Ferguson getting free passes to load the bases. Bolden lined a drive over the center fielder's head to score all three runners.

Courtesy runner Seth Hopkins then scored the game-ending run on a double by Carson.

Cox, Jeans and Ouellette all had a double and single each for the Hawks.

 

Pittsburg    000    000    -    0    1    3

Pleasant Grove    010    234    -    10    10    1

Game called in 6th, 10-run rule.

Brett McGee, Jace Wood (5) and Mason Monts, McGee (5); Caleb Bolden and Keaton Russo. WP-Bolden (6-0); LP-McGee (4-1).

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