Blythewood’s Jordyn Adams slides around the tag from T.J. White and looks in for the call. (Photo/Kristy Kimball Massey)
BLYTHEWOOD – It didn’t take long for Blythewood to build a lead on Westwood Tuesday night. The Bengals scored five runs in both the first and second innings at Blythewood Stadium and cruised to an 11-0, five-inning victory over the arch rival Redhawks.
Tyler Romanik’s three-run home run in the second punctuated the evening for the Bengals, who move to 15-6.
“I was pleased with the intensity level and the way we got after it,” Blythewood head coach Barry Mizzell said. “We had two quick outs in the first inning but two quick hits and kept things going, put up a five-spot in the first, and a three-spot in the second with that home run, and we played a bunch of people after that.”
The Bengals also took advantage of seven Westwood errors, including five in the first two innings, to stretch their lead.
In the 5-run first, Blythewood sent nine batters to the plate but only had one hit. Justin Lang-Spittler’s 2-out RBI single plated Andrew Crook for the first run of the game.
Three errors enabled Jordan Adams, Justin Greider, and Tripper Ergle to get on base. Westwood starting pitcher Matthew Oxendine walked Jacob Davis and hit Barrett Grant to keep the inning alive.
Blythewood sent nine more batters to the plate in the second for five more runs, including Romanik’s shot over the left field fence. After Romanik went yard, Lang-Spittler singled and Davis doubled.
Greider and Grant lined and bounced out, but Ergle reached on the second error of the inning, which scored Lang-Spittler and Davis. Adam Massey flied out to end the inning.
The Bengals closed out the scoring in the fourth on Chase Ellis’ sacrifice fly that scored Todd Mattox.
Davis and Greider combined on the mound to 2-hit the Redhawks.
Oxendine took the loss for Westwood, pitching one-plus inning. T.J. White pitched the second and third innings and Duncan White pitched the fourth for the Redhawks, who drop to 5-12
“We pitched OK, but the defense didn’t show up tonight,” Westwood head coach Jonathan Burroughs said. “I thought we hit the ball decently. We hit it well enough to get into the game, but our defense didn’t show up.”
The Bengals are a game behind Region IV-4A leader Dutch Fork and play their last scheduled regular-season game Friday at Ridge View. Blythewood will then play makeup games at Richland Northeast Saturday at 11 a.m. and at home versus A.C. Flora Monday at 6:30 p.m.
“I feel good, we’re starting to get our momentum going into the playoffs,” said Mizzell, whose team will likely be in the playoff picture as the district tournaments start off late next week.
WHS: 0-0-0 0-0 – 0-2-6
BHS: 5-5-0 1-x – 11-6-0
B: Jacob Davis (W), Justin Greider (4), and Andrew Crook. W: Matthew Oxendine (L), T.J. White (2), Duncan White (4) and Ian Miller. 2B: B – Jordyn Adams, Davis. HR: B –Tyler Romanik. LOB – B 3, W 5.
