Good pitching stops good hitting. That was theme for the Fort Chiswell at Auburn game. The Pioneers finally got to Auburn's starting pitcher Reed Underwood in the sixth inning and held on to to defeat the Eagles, 3-2.
The game was scoreless after five full innings. Both teams had combined for just five hits and there had been 12 strikeouts.
In their first half of the sixth, Fort Chiswell (6-2) rose to the occasion with two outs when Chandler Crawford singled to center. Dylan Bailey would stroke a single to right. Johnathan Meadows then came up with a single to center to drive in Crawford to break the scoreless tie.
Landon McClure followed by supplying more offense at the plate with a RBI single to right scoring Bailey. Alex Vaught then came up and hit a single to left to knock in Meadows and all of a sudden it was 3-0. Those last two singles came off relief pitcher Parker Hale of Auburn, whom replaced starter Reed Underwood.
Underwood had gone 5.2 innings, striking out nine and walking just two. He only gave up two hits until surrendering three straight singles.
Pioneers pitcher Landon McClure pitched a complete game, giving up only five hits, striking out five and walking just one batter. His shutout ended in the bottom of the sixth when Auburn's Rusty Marshall hit a high pop up to second base that was dropped by the Pioneers. He would then get the next two batters, but Damien Boyd singled to score Marshall from second after a stolen base.
Underwood added a double to left center over the Fort Chiswell's outfielder, scoring Boyd. McClure then got Brady Hale to ground out to second to end the uprising. After getting the leadoff batter to ground out to start the bottom of the seventh, Underwood struck out the next two hitters to seal the Fort Chiswell victory.
"McClure pitched a heck of a game for us," said Fort Chiswell Head Coach Derrick Jackson. "Auburn is a really good team and well-coached. Fortunately we got a few hits there in the sixth inning and pushed a couple runs across."
Auburn (6-2) received two hits from Boyd, while Underwood, Tyler Sparrer and Carter Keith.
Fort Chiswell got two hits each from McClure and Chandler Crawford. Bailey, Meadows and Vaught tallied one base knock apiece.
Line Score:
Fort Chiswell - 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 = 5
Auburn - 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 = 2
R H E LOB
FC - 3 - 7 - 3 - 7
Aub - 2 - 5 - 0 - 5
FC - WP - McClure
AUB - LP - Underwood
