Beavers top Wyoming East for 1st section baseball title since 2006
Jun. 5—BLUEFIELD — The Bluefield High School baseball team has won two championships this season. Before too long they'll be playing for a third.
The top-seeded Beavers lit up Wyoming East for 15 hits at Bowen Field at Peters Park in Friday's Class AA, Region 1, Section 3 title game, beating the Warriors 17-7 for Bluefield's first sectional championship in baseball since 2006.
"It's been a while," said Bluefield head coach Jimmy Redmond, whose squad won this year's Coppinger Invitational earlier in the regular season.
The Bluefield players were understandably proud of their achievement.
"Oh yeah ... they're happy. But they also want to keep going and keep playing," said Redmond, who was coaching at Montcalm the last time Bluefield baseball won a sectional crown.
The Beavers (24-3) will have a week to practice and prepare for the 2-out-of-3 regional series, which will be played against either Independence or Shady Spring.
"We'll come back to practice next week and try to improve," Redmond said. "I got word tonight that Shady beat Independence, so they'll have to play again [Saturday]. They winner of that, we'll play the week after."
Kerry Collins (7-2) and Ryker Brown combined for nine strikeouts in the six-inning rout. Brown finished up the sixth and seventh, allowing no hits, no runs and no walks over the final two innings.
Both lent a lot of clout to the Beavers' 15-hit attack, also. Collins went 2-for-3 with a triple and Brown went 3-for-4 with a triple.
Hunter Harmon went 2-for-5 with five RBIs, Gavin Lail went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Bryson Redmond went 2-for-4.
"I was happy with our hitting. We kept battling. We won every inning," Redmond said. "We're all excited. Everybody's happy and we've been getting pretty good crowds the last two times out. "
Redmond has made good use of practice sessions when the Beavers have had the opportunity, but a steady playing schedule has been good to the Beavers so far this season. He intends to do what he can to keep the momentum moving forward.
"You can pick up a game or two during that week off. I think we may play Tuesday, at home," Redmond said.
Bluefield 17, Wyoming East 7
Wyoming East....022 300 — 7 6 6
Bluefield..............553 022 — 17 15 3
C. Cook, L. Laxton (3), M. Houck (4), B. Simpson (6) and J. Ellison. Kerry Collins, Ryker Brown (5) and Bryson Redmond. W— Collins, 7-2. L— Cook.
