LEBANON — Is there a better way to celebrate Senior Night at Doc Adams Field? It should be memorable for lefty Dagan Barton for the rest of his life. Barton threw a no-hitter on Tuesday, striking out ten, in a five-inning 10-0 rout of Tazewell. The win coupled with Marion’s 5-2 victory over second-place Richlands, Lebanon earned a share of the Southwest District regular season baseball championship, needing only one win in their final two games to earn the title outright.
“If feels great, especially on senior night,” Barton said. “To come out here with my boys, our last regular season home game, to throw a no-no, it doesn’t get any better.”
Only three runners reached base for the Bulldogs. Barton walked one in the first, one in the third, and a Tazewell runner reached on an error in the fifth. He threw 11 first-pitch strikes in facing 18 batters. Barton only threw 72 pitches and 47 were strikes.
“Other than the two walks, I didn’t fall behind,” stated Barton. “I just went straight at hitters, I mostly used the fastball, if it seemed they may be catching up to it, I would mix in a curve to throw off their timing. Then I would go straight back to the fastball.”
The Lebanon offense struck early. Luke Garrett led off with a single in the first and with one out Barton walked. After a short fly out to left the Pioneers did some two-out damage with some help from Tazewell.
Toby Baker popped up and reached when it went off the first baseman’s glove allowing two unearned runs to score. Nathan Phillips followed with a run-scoring hit up the middle for a 3-0 advantage.
They added runs in the second. Garrett walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a ground out. Barton picked up an RBI when he grounded out to deep short. Eli Breeding doubled and scored on a hit by Baker to put the Pioneers up 5-0.
With the lead, Barton concentrated on pounding the strike zone. The Bulldogs struggled to put the ball in play the entire game. They had two ground outs, two popups on the infield and only one flyout.
“As long as that first number in the box score is a zero, that’s all that matters,” Barton said. “I knew my boys would get me some runs.
“I think seeing some better arms early helps you as the season goes on to get you ready for the district games and the postseason.”
The Pioneers didn’t stop. Shortstop Chance Parker hit his sixth homer of the season and the 10th of his career with a solo shot in the fourth to the opposite field.
“I had a little problem the past few games, I’ve been trying to pull the ball too much,” Parker said. “The first two at-bats I pulled it to the shortstop, the coaches talked to me and calmed me down. They told me to think right side and that’s what I did.
“We hadn’t played Tazewell yet, we knew this was a big game for us. We want to clinch the district as soon as we can.”
Lebanon (12-5, 8-0 SWD) ended it early with a two-out rally in the fifth. Jake Hilton and Garrett walked. Parker had an RBI single to left. Barton hammered a two-run double to deep right. Breeding walked it off with a run-scoring single up the middle.
“We have a lot of energy as a team,” Parker said. “When one of us gets going, it bleeds off to the other guys. It leads to a train of hits.”
The Pioneers couldn’t ask for more, winning their seventh in a row, and they are in the driver’s seat in the SWD.
“Dagan came out and threw a great game, a no-hitter on senior night. I think he’ll remember this one,” Lebanon coach Cody Compton said. “Chance swung the bat like he’s capable of. Carter (Hess) played a good game, so all three of my seniors came through.
“I think with weather issues, early in the season we weren’t getting to play consistently. Now we’re getting to see some live arms all the time. We’re more relaxed at the plate and more confident.”
Tazewell (7-10, 2-6 SWD) advanced to the title game last year and returned SWD Player of the Year, Tre Blankenship. Six seniors returned but it has been a struggle for the Bulldogs.
“We’re having problems mentally of overcoming when things don’t go exactly our way,” said Tazewell coach Brandon McDaniel. “We have a lot of kids on the team that are doing some identity searching. We’re a better ball club than showed up today. I tip my hat to Coach Compton, Lebanon has a good baseball program and he does a great job with his guys. We’re just struggling right now and we have to get out of the quicksand.”