GREENLAND — A four-run second inning outburst proved too much for the NBC 17 (Scout) team of St. Louis as the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team advanced to the championship game of the Big Fire Hawgs World Series at Greenland High School on Sunday.
The Sox were set to play for the showcase championship late in the day against Veteran Bat Company 17U of Comanche, Okla.
Will Hathcote, with seventh-inning relief from Logan White, shackled NBC after it had taken a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
Colby Morrow, White and Blaine Sears each had two hits for the Sox, who improved to 25-8 on the season. Sears and Ryan Riggs each drove in two runs.
Hathcote scattered six hits over six innings, giving up three runs but only one earned. He walked no one and struck out seven.
White struck out the side to finish the game in the top of the seventh.
NBC loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a two-out error that extended the inning. A base hit produced the 2-0 lead before the Sox got out of the inning on a grounder to J.T. Parker at second.
The Sox loaded the bags too in the bottom of the first, but a pair of groundouts left them full.
NBC was retired in order in the second.
In the bottom of the inning, walks to Gavin Burton and Parker set the table. Sears beat out a bunt for a single to fill the bags again. This time, Riggs hit a grounder to third that was misplayed allowing Burton to score.
Noah Davis tied it with an RBI single on the infield. After Conner Martin tapped into a force at the plate, Morrow delivered the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly. Davis made it 4-2 when he scored on a wild pitch.
The St. Louis team managed a two-out single in the top of the third. In the home half, White led off with a single and Burton walked. Parker moved them up with a sacrifice bunt and Sears’ sacrifice fly made it 5-2.
Hathcote eased through a 1-2-3 fourth. In the fifth, a one-out single and a two-out triple allowed NBC to make it 5-3.
The Sox countered with a three-run outburst in the home fifth to make it a more comfortable lead. White and Burton started things with singles. With one out, Sears ripped a single to left to get White home and, on the late throw to the plate, Burton took third and Sears moved up to second.
Riggs made it 7-3 with a sacrifice fly. Davis walked then got in a rundown off of first, staying in it long enough for Sears to steal home.
Hathcote finished strong with a 1-2-3 sixth, fanning the last two, before giving way to White in the seventh.
