By JOSH BURRIS
Bluffton’s Braxton Betancourt made life difficult for the South Adams Starfires on Thursday, pitching a complete game to help lead the Tigers to a 6-1 victory.
The sophomore southpaw allowed just three hits and one walk in seven innings of work to go with 15 strikeouts.
Betancourt was perfect for nearly six innings before the Starfires finally were able to get a hit on him with two down.
“Every time Braxton is on the mound, he gives us a chance to win,” Bluffton head coach Jason Pierce said about his ace. “He does a good job at keeping hitters off-balance, and I think everybody pretty much knows that. He’s got command of three or four different pitches at least. But when you are around the strike zone and not giving up free bases – one walk – it’s hard to beat that.”
Betancourt also helped his cause at the plate. In the bottom of the second inning with two down he drove a single to left-center field to bring home Curtis Ellis for the first run of the ballgame.
The Tigers (5-3) put up two more runs in the third – both with two outs as well.
Dylan King drew a walk and then eventually scored on a South Adams throwing error when Drew Pressler put the ball in play. Ellis followed up with a single to score Pressler, which put the Tigers up 3-0.
Bluffton batted around in the fourth inning to bring home its final three runs.
Lukas Hunt led the inning off with a double to left and scored on a single by Eli Garrett. After a Brock Drayer walk, Kyler Rolston grounded into a fielder’s choice that resulted in Drayer being thrown out, but Garrett scoring.
King and Pressler both drew walks to load the bases for Ellis. He hit a grounder to short that was bobbled, resulting in everyone being safe and Rolston scoring to make it a 6-0 game.
“Offensively I thought we did a good job at least putting the ball in play,” Pierce said. “They (South Adams) kicked it around a little bit, but that doesn’t happen if we don’t put the ball in play.
“I honestly thought their starting pitcher did a pretty good job,” Pierce continued. “He had us off-balance too. Finally, when we started putting the ball in play, it kind of made some things happen.”
The Starfires’ starting pitcher, Owen Wanner, was pulled after that fourth inning. He allowed five hits while striking out six and walking seven.
AJ Dull came in relief for the final two innings and allowed no hits while striking out two, walking two, and hitting a batter.
Betancourt opened the sixth inning with two strikeouts before facing pinch-hitter Jordan Hinshaw. He hit a single to right field to break up Betancourt’s perfect game. Leadoff hitter Kyle Minger followed up with a single as well, but Hinshaw was thrown out after getting caught in a pickle between second and third base to end the inning.
Pierce did not have many complaints about his team’s performance, but would like to see his team be more aggressive when they are ahead in the count at the plate. The Tigers left 10 runners on base, and Pierce said he would like to get more of those home.
“We are struggling sometimes with using the count to our advantage when we are up 1-0 or 2-0, just sitting on that fastball and going and getting it. We weren’t aggressive enough in that area,” Pierce explained. “That’s just one area we need to do a better job of competing in when we are seeing good pitches and understanding we are leaving too many runners on base.”
Bluffton’s next game will be at Mississinewa on Saturday.
Bluffton also won Wednesday’s matchup against Canterbury 12-5.
The Tigers were tied 4-4 with the Cavaliers, but put up seven runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach.
In that fifth, Rolston doubled to score one run. King and Ellis also each hit a double to score a run. Betancourt hit into a fielder’s choice, but still was able to bring a run home. Drayer also doubled to bring three more runs in.
Rolston got the win on the mound, throwing two innings and allowing one run on no hits while striking out four. Drayer threw three innings in relief as well. Brody Lewis started and pitched two innings, allowing four runs on four hits while striking out six.
The Tigers had 14 hits at the plate. King went 3-for-4 to lead the way. The Tigers also stole 10 bases, with Garrett leading the team with two.
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