Beckley eclipsed that by scoring the next 15.
The Flying Eagles kept the bats hot, pounding out 19 hits and capitalizing on six Bluefield errors in a 22-3 four-inning victory over the Beavers in the Coppinger Tournament Tuesday at Bowen Field in Bluefield.
The game was effectively decided in the first inning where the Flying Eagles sent 15 batters to the plate, walking out of the frame with an 11-1 advantage.
“We’ve been really just focusing on staying back, waiting for the right pitch which can be hard,” Beckley head coach Alex Williams said. “These guys just settled down, made their adjustments in the box to where they could see the ball real well today and put a barrel on it.”
It was a continuation of the Flying Eagles’ upward trajectory on offense after a pair of games against George Washington and St. Albans last week that saw them notch three total hits.
The rebound started Saturday in a 9-0 win over James Monroe and carried into Tuesday’s victory.
“The pitching we’ve seen this year,” Williams said. “We’ve seen everyone’s ace or their No. 2. I was talking to these guys and I’m not a big stats guy but they’re important still. There’s a place for them and the way they batted against that kind of pitching, I’m confident they can hit any kind of pitching. It’s easier to slow down your bat than it is to speed it up. They’ve seen the bets in the state and they’ve been able to translate that to whatever competition they’ve faced and rise to that level.”
Bluefield’s brightest spot of the night came when Nate Redmond hit a sac fly to plate Isiah Mitchell who reached on a leadoff walk but when the inning flipped to Beckley’s half, the assault was immediate.
Not only were the Flying Eagles mashing the ball, the Beavers were struggling to play it correctly right off the bat. Maddex Sim exploited that first, notching a single and racing all the way to third on an error.
Tyler Wilhite plated Maddex with a single and the lead after grew to 3-1 after Price lined a single to left field, scoring Wilhite and Drew Gallaher. Parker Williams kept the train rolling with an RBI single to make it 4-1.
A bases-loaded walk issued to the No. 9 hitter plated another run, bringing Sims up for another shot at the plate. He capitalized, plating two more runs as Bluefield’s fielding errors persisted.
“We’re young and inexperienced and two of the guys have never played,” Bluefield head coach Jimmy Redmond said. “Most of our guys are either ninth or tenth graders who haven’t played. So add that up and it’s been a rough season so far.”
The Flying Eagle assault remained steady as they added four runs in the second and seven in the third inning.
Bluefield countered with three in the top of the third but never threatened.
“High school baseball is a weird thing and anything can happen,” Williams said. “One run is nothing and 10 runs really isn’t anything really. I know what we’re capable of and I’ve very much seen us do it time and time again. These guys are all seasoned, really good ball players so they got their heads tight and took care of business.”
Sims and Price led Beckley with three RBI each in the win while Wilhite, Gallaher and Jax Adams drove in two apiece.
