HANCEVILLE, Ala. – The West Point Warriors hit the road to take on Hanceville Friday night and they returned home with a 10-2 win over their county foes. The Warriors plated three runs in the first to take an early lead and tacked on three more in third to begin pulling away from the Bulldogs. Caiden Rodgers got the start and the win on the mound for West Point, allowing just two hits in four shutout innings and striking out six batters.
Andrew Putman led off the top of the first with a single into center field and after a pair of batters were hit by pitches to load the bases, Putman crossed the plate on a wild pitch to make it a 1-0 game. Colton McCoy then lifted a sacrifice fly into center field to bring Eli Folds home to score and add another run to the lead. Three pitches later, Isaac Hoffpauir scored on a wild pitch and the Warriors went into the bottom of the first leading 3-0.
After a scoreless second inning, West Point added to its lead in the third. Rodgers drove an RBI single into left field to make it 4-0 and one pitch later, an infield error allowed two more Warriors to score and extend the lead to 6-0 after three. Folds scored on a passed ball in the fourth to put West Point in front 7-0 and after a scoreless fifth inning, another Hanceville error in the sixth allowed another run to score and the Warriors led 8-0 going into the final frame.
Bryson Phillips scored on a fielder’s choice in the top of the seventh to make it a 9-0 game and a few pitches later, Putman used a fielder’s choice to reach home and give West Point a 10-0 advantage with three outs remaining. The Bulldogs were able to chip away at some of the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Adam Cooper scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-1 and an RBI double from Gabriel Ognilla plated another run for Hanceville but that was all the offense the Bulldogs could put together and the Warriors held on to win it 10-2.
JD Cochran (one hit) posted a pair of RBIs in the win and McCoy (one RBI) posted a pair of hits. Hoffpauir added an RBI for West Point and Rodgers (one hit) drove in a run as well. AJ Randau pitched the final three innings for the Warriors, allowing two runs (unearned) on two hits and striking out three batters.
The Warriors will travel to Winfield Saturday morning and the Bulldogs will be back home next Thursday to take on Southeastern.
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