TENNERTON – Josh Nesbitt twirled a classy complete game to lead the Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers past the Preston Knights in the elimination game of the Section 2, Region 1 baseball tournament.
The Bucs won a 10-1 decision as Nesbitt didn’t allow an earned run and gave up just four hits while striking out 12.
The Bucs defeated Preston in their only regular season match-up by a 32-2 score back in March 22 in Kingwood.
Preston scored their unearned run in the top first for a 1-0 lead.
The Bucs evened the game at 1-1 in their half of the first when Zach Calef-Boring hit an infield single and later scored.
Buckhannon-Upshur took their first lead with a run in the bottom of the second when Landon Marple drew a lead-off walk, swiped second and third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Clint Crites.
The Bucs pushed across two runs in the bottom of the third when Eli Bryant scored on a delayed steal of home and Cameron Tenney raced home on a double by Isaac Lane to make it a 4-1 contest.
B-U made it a 6-1 game with two runs in the bottom of the fourth when Calef-Boring and Bryant each crossed home plate.
Crites singled and scored on a single by Payton Bennett and Bennett later scored on a passed ball in the fifth inning treating the Bucs to an 8-1 advantage.
Lane tripled and scored on an error and Marple reached on a fielder’s choice and later scored on a passed ball as the Bucs wrapped up the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Bucs outhit Preston by a 10-4 margin with Calef-Boring, Lane and Bennett each getting two.
The win improved the Bucs to 10-18 on the year.
They were slated to visit Bridgeport on Thursday as University downed the Indians by a 13-3 score Wednesday night in the winner’s bracket finals.
Preston was eliminated from the double elimination tournament with the loss.
The boxscore:
Preston 100 000 0 – 1
Buckhannon-Upshur 112 222 x – 10
E – Preston 5; Buckhannon-Upshur 2. DP – Buckhannon-Upshur 1. LoB – Preston 4; Buckhannon-Upshur 9. 2B – Chaney 2, Lane. 3B – Lane. SF – Crites. SB – Bryant 4, Calef-Boring 3, Tenney 3, Marple 3, Bennett, Crites.
Hitting
Preston – Brady McNew p-1b, 3 1 1 0; Layton Brandt 2b, 3 0 0 0; Mason Chaney cf-p, 3 0 2 0; Kevin Wilson c, 3 0 0 0; Caleb Belanger lf, 2 0 1 0; Jackson Turner 3b, 3 0 0 0; Caleb Whorton ss, 3 0 0 0; Jessie Desantis rf, 3 0 0 0; Brody Hendershot 1b-cf, 2 0 0 0. Totals 25 1 4 0.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Zach Calef-Boring cf, 4 2 2 0; Eli Bryant rf, 2 2 1 0; Cameron Tenney 2b, 3 1 1 1; Isaac Lane 3b, 4 1 2 1; Ian Donnen c, 4 0 0 1; Landon Marple dh, 2 2 0 0; Clint Crites 1b, 2 1 1 1; Ryan Snyder 1b, 0 0 0 0; Payton Bennett lf, 3 1 2 1; Jaden Westfall lf, 1 0 1 0; Brayden Hamer ss, 3 0 0 0; Blake Runyon 3b, 1 0 0 0; D. Ormeno 0 0 0 0; Tucker Burr 0 0 0 0; Josh Nesbitt p, 0 0 0 0; Gage Parsons 0 0 0 0. Totals 29 10 10 5.
Pitching
Preston – McNew (L): 3 1/3 innings, 6 hits, 6 runs, 6 earned runs, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts; Chaney: 2 2/3 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Nesbitt (W): 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 12 strikeouts, 1 hit batsman (Belanger).
