‘Stangs blanked

By Rob Winpigler, Leader-Call correspondent

HURLEY May 09, 2008 11:06 am

— The West Jones Mustangs fell to East Central 10-0 in six innings here Thursday night in the opening game of the South State Class 4-A baseball playoffs.
The teams will meet tonight at Mustang Field at 7 p.m. for game two of the series. A third game would also be at West Jones if it is necessary Saturday.
“We will have to quickly regroup and rebound from this performance tonight,” said West Jones coach Joey Ward.
“West Jones is an excellent team. We had a great pitching performance tonight, and that was the difference,” said EC coach Gary Long.
East Central’s Phillip Byrd held the Mustangs to two second inning hits in facing only 20 batters in six innings of work. He fanned ten batters in the contest. “Byrd is not a thrower but a very polished pitcher that is a legitimate Division I prospect,’’ said Ward.
Garrett Moore and Chase Headrick led off the second inning with singles, but Byrd settled down and then retired the side, ending the only Mustangs threat of the night.
East Central only had six hits in the contest but five Mustangs errors aided the home team in their win. The Hornets scored three times in the third inning on one hit. Three Mustangs errors and one single tallied two more runs in the next frame. Three singles produced four runs in the fifth inning for the winners as they led 9-0 after five innings. East Central scored the tenth and final run in the bottom of the sixth inning ending the contest.
Tyler Gardner (8-1), Devin Huff, and Ty Pulliam worked on the mound for West Jones.

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