TENNERTON – The Buckhannon-Upshur baseball Buccaneers were victorious in dominant fashion over the Lincoln Cougars in their 2023 debut by a 13-3 score Monday evening at William E. Phillips Memorial Field.
The game was halted after five innings on the 10-run mercy rule.
The B-U pitching combo of Tucker Burr and Drahden Rice limited the Cougars to just three hits and only gave up one earned run.
Burr started the game and went two innings allowing two hits and one earned run while striking out one while Rice tossed three innings and didn’t give up an earned run on one hit while fanning two.
“I thought Burr and Rice did a nice job of competing and we hit the ball well which is usually a good combination for success,” remarked Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Adam Squires.
The Bucs had eight hits in the five-inning win with the big blast belonging to Landon Marple, who hit a two-run home run in the second inning.
The Bucs wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard.
Down 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Zach Calef-Boring hit a lead-off double to centerfield and later scored on a passed ball and Ian Donnen hit a two-run single scoring Elijah Bryant and Marple who both had drawn walks.
Marple’s two-run blast was part of a five-run second inning outburst which gave the Bucs an 8-1 lead.
Lincoln scored two runs in the top of the third making it an 8-3 contest but the Bucs answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the third when Donnen singled home Calef-Boring and Bryant walked and later scored on a wild pitch. That treated the Bucs to a 10-3 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, Brayden Hamer singled to left and later scored on a bases loaded walk to Calef-Boring that upped the B-U lead to 11-3.
Buckhannon-Upshur wrapped up the game with two runs in the bottom of the fifth ending the contest on the mercy rule when Payton Bennett and Hamer each scored on fielder’s choices.
Calef-Boring, Donnen and Hamer each had two hits apiece to lead the B-U offense.
The Bucs will be back in action Tuesday when they host Preston at 5 p.m.
They will visit North Marion on Thursday.
The boxscore:
Lincoln 102 00 – 0
Buckhannon-Upshur 352 12 – 13
E – Lincoln 6, Buckhannon-Upshur 4. DP – None. Lob – Lincoln 4; Buckhannon-Upshur 8. 2B – Calef-Boring. HR – Marple. SB – Hamer, Crites, Bryant, Marple, Runyon.
Hitting
Lincoln – Noah Sears lf, 2 1 1 0; Nick Kellar cf, 2 1 1 0; Lance Hostuttler 2b, 3 1 0 1; Will Wolfe 3b-p, 3 0 0 1; Corbin Ayers p-3b-ss, 1 0 0 0; Dillon Shaw dh, 2 0 0 0; Maddox Perine rf, 2 0 1 0; Cole Heflin c, 2 0 0 0; AJ Bart 1b-3b, 2 0 0 0; Gavin Owens pr, 0 0 0 0; Kaden Posey p, 0 0 0 0; John Smith p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 19 3 3 2.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Zach Calef-Boring 2b, 3 3 2 1; Elijah Bryant rf, 2 3 1 1; Landon Marple cf, 2 2 1 2; Ian Donnen c, 4 0 2 3; Payton Bennett lf, 2 1 0 0; Ryan Snyder 1b, 3 0 0 1; Jaden Westfall 1b, 1 1 0 0; Brayden Hamer ss, 3 2 2 0; Clint Crites 3b, 3 0 0 0; Blake Runyon 3b, 1 0 0 1; Tucker Burr p, 1 0 0 0; Drahden Rice p, 2 1 0 1. Totals 27 13 8 10.
Pitching
Lincoln – Ayers (L): 1 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 8 runs, 6 earned runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 1 wild pitch; Wolfe: 2/3 of an inning, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 1 wild pitch, 1 hit batsman (Hamer); Posey: 1 inning, 2 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned runs, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts, 1 wild pitch; Smith: 1 1/3 innings, 1 hit, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Burr (W): 2 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout; Rice: 3 innings, 1 hit, 2 runs, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, 1 wild pitch, 1 hit batsman (Ayers).
