Photos by Bruce Crawford Catcher Billy Nice gets tagged out at home against Ritchie County.

With Magnolia holding on to a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Blue Devils scored the winning run on a walk-off wild-pitch to move on in the Region I, Section II sectional with a 5-4 win over Magnolia May 10 in St Marys.

Drew Litton plated a run on a pair of base-hits, while Magnolia teammates Dylan Conner, Patrick Mirandy and Dalton Pritchard each singling twice, and Nick Priem an RBI single.

Magnolia will lose Nick Priem, Drew Herrick and Dylan Conner to graduation, but will return the rest of the squad next season.

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Knights Send Eagles Into Sectional

Losers Bracket

The Blue Eagles plated three runs in the seventh inning, but it wasn’t quite enough to get past Tyler Consolidated in the WVSSAC Region I, Section II Sectional May 9 at Tyler Consolidated.

The Knights jumped out to a 5-0 lead after four innings of play, but the Big Blue put up three runs in the top of the fifth. Drew Herrick opened up with a single, while Dylan Conner followed with a walk. Patrick Mirandy followed with a long RBI single to score Herrick, and Nick Priem followed with a two-RBI double. The Eagles left two inn scoring position.

However, the Eagles couldn’t get any closer, when the Knights followed up with five runs in the home-half.

Neither team scored in the sixth, and Magnolia made the Knights squirm a bit scoring three runs in the seventh on singles by Conner, Priem, Dalton Pritchard, Leo Herrick and Jack Gamble along with a Billy Nice long sacrifice fly, while leaving two more runners in scoring position to end the game.

Gamble started and took the loss from the mound. He struck-out seven and walked three, while Mirandy finished up, struck-out one and walked one.

From the dish, the Eagles left two on base four of the seven innings in scoring position, with Priem and Leo Herrick each leading the way with a pair of hits, and two RBI’s, while Conner and Pritchard each smacked a pair of singles. Mirandy added an RBI single, and touched home twice, while Nice singled and knocked in a teammate with a sacrifice fly. Gamble and Drew Herrick each had singles.

Kyle Daughtery picked up his eighth straight pitching wins without a defeat, striking out five. Dylan Roberts and Colby Buchanan had the big bats for Tyler Consolidated with a RBI double and a pair of singles, respectively.

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Early Runs Key Blue Eagles, 13-7 Win

Magnolia batted 14 and scored eight runs on four hits, four walks, four Rebel errors, sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly in the third inning to propel the Eagles to a 13-7 victory in the opening round of the double-elimination WVSSAC Class-A Region I, Section II Sectionals, May 8 at George Mullett Field in New Martinsville.

The Blue Eagles scored single runs in the first two innings before the Rebels scored a run without the benefit of a hit, two walks and a sacrifice fly to cut their deficit to 2-1 heading into the bottom of the third.

In the eight-run third, the Eagles opened the inning off with a Billy Nice rope to right center, followed by a Ritchie fielding error, and a walk to load the bases. Drew Litton reached on a fielding error that scored Nice.

Derrick Kocher added an RBI walk, while Dylan Conner’s sacrifice bunt scored Jake Gamble who walked earlier. Patrick Mirandy and Nick Priem each knocked in a run with back-to-back singles, while Pritchard walked to load the bases once more.

Nice ripped his second single, that scored two runs, while Leo Herrick got into the act with a RBI single up the gut. Austin Klug plated a run with a walk as well as Gamble, with Litton driving in the ninth Magnolia run of the inning with a single for a 10-1 lead after three innings of play.

The Eagles added two more runs in their home-half of the fourth, when Miranda, Priem and Brandon Leasure loaded the bases with back-to-back-to-back singles. Nice reached on a fielders-choice that scored Mirandy, and Leo Herrick drilled his second RBI single that increased their advantage to 12-1 heading into the fifth frame.

However, Eagles hurler Dalton Pritchard started to wear down and the Rebels would score two runs on one-hit, four walks and one fielders choice to trim Magnolia’s lead down to 12-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth only needing a run to end the game in mercy-rule fashion.

Austin Klug ripped a hard shot off the first baseman’s glove, and the fleet-footed Klug beat it out to open the bottom of the fifth, and raced to third on a past ball. However, he would be stranded and the Eagles lost a golden opportunity to end it in five.

Ritchie added two more in the sixth and three in the seventh to make it respectable.

Pritchard got the win from the mound. He struck-out four and walked six, while Priem got the save struck-out two and plated a run off two singles. Leo Herrick and Patrick Mirandy each singled twice and knocked inn a teammate, while Billy Nice plated three on two base-hits.

In addition Litton doubled in a pair of runs, while Conner knocked in a run with a sacrifice bunt. Klug and Gamble each reached base all four at bats and scored twice to end the Eagles offensive stats.