LEBANON — The Scarlet Hurricane had blown by Tazewell in the Southwest District quarterfinals to earn the right to face regular season champion Lebanon. Marion put up a strong fight but eventually succumbed to the Pioneers 8-2 at Doc Adams Field on Thursday. It was the tenth win in a row for Lebanon as they advanced to the SWD finals.
“Dagan Barton came out and threw a really good game,” said Lebanon coach Cody Compton. “(Isaac) Godsey came in behind him and had a little trouble in the sixth, and Tater (Nathan Phillips) came in and shut the door for us. We struggled a little hitting the ball early, not swinging at good pitches. It’s the wrong time of the year for the bats to go cold, hopefully, we find them soon.”
Barton was impressive on the hill, throwing four innings of shutout baseball to notch his fifth win. He only allowed one hit to Brady Roberts in the fourth. Barton did struggle with command at times walking three while striking out two.
“I didn’t have my best stuff or command at times,” Barton said. “I knew as long as I kept pounding the strike zone we could get out of here with the dub. That’s really all that matters at this time of year. We had to come out and work on the field some because of all the rain, I think it threw off my routine.”
Marion (10-8) threw Emory & Henry College signee Carter Sayers. He went five innings, striking out five. Only two of the five runs allowed were earned.
“Sayers was pitching well,” Marion coach Kevin Terry said. “He was on fire, the curveball was working great, hitting the spots with his fastball with good command. We just made some mistakes here and there. Lebanon had depth in their pitching, they have a good ball team.”
Barton provided significant help with a 4-for-4 night at the plate, and driving in three runs. His hardest hit ball of the night, perhaps should have been caught. A fly ball to deep center that Marion centerfielder Mason Push seemed to lose in the lights.
“I’ll take good luck, as long as it falls rather than bad luck when you hit it straight at guys,” commented Barton. “I couldn’t be happier with it.
“We struggled against Sayers. He had a really good curveball and he threw it in any count. It took us a while to adjust. We finally started to get on him a little.”
The Pioneers got on the scoreboard in the third. Carter Hess walked, and Jake Hilton laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move him to second. After a ground out for the second out, Chance Parker had a clutch run-scoring single up the middle. Barton followed with his triple for a 2-0 lead.
They added cushion in the fifth with more two-out damage. Luke Garrett struck out, but reached on a wild pitch and Parker walked. Barton added an RBI hit and two more crossed the plate on Marion’s errors as the lead extended to 5-0.
Godsey came to the mound in relief in the fifth and retired the three batters he faced. The Scarlet Hurricane came alive in the sixth when Brody Witt singled and Mason Pugh walked. Jack Pugh and Hunter Robinson had run-scoring hits as Marion closed within 5-2.
Lebanon (15-5) came back in the bottom of the inning with three more runs. Carter Hess singled. Hilton followed with a perfect hit-and-run to put runners at first and third. Parker reached on a wild pitch after striking out and Godsey scored. Parker stole second and the catcher threw the ball away, allowing Hilton to score. Barton then added his fourth hit to push Parker across the plate with the final run.
Phillips came to the bump in the seventh and struck out the first two he faced. Pugh reached on an error, but a ground out ended the game.
Virginia High defeated Richlands in the other semifinal contest. Lebanon will host the Bearcats for the SWD title on Monday.