Bulldogs entertained in 11-run victory

By AARON MURRAY - Daily Journal Sports Writer

LEADWOOD — The coaches and players at West County found one way to stay warm on the field during their game Wednesday afternoon. Hot chocolate was the team’s drink of choice as they tried to stay warm during their match-up with the Lesterville Bearcats. The hot chocolate seemed to do the trick as the Bulldogs delivered a 14-3 blow to the Bearcats.

Three errors started the Bulldogs off on the wrong foot defensively. Josh Chadbourne lead off for the Bearcats and got the only hit of the inning. Chadbourne advanced to second with a stolen base and then to third on a throwing error. Back-to-back errors brought two runs across the plate for Lesterville as they took the early lead.

Dustyn Dowd shut down the next two batters with a ground-out and a strikeout to skip out of the inning and avoid any further damage.

The Bulldogs were able to follow-up the Bearcats’ two-run top half with a four-run bottom half thanks to two mistakes by the pitcher. Tyler Stacey got things started as he was West County’s first baserunner on the afternoon. A walk to Cody Watson and a hit by a pitch to Kyle Nettles set up an RBI single by Jesse Dean and a shot to centerfield by Jake Gidden brought three more around to gain West County’s first lead. Lesterville’s Brett Walker ended the rally with a spectacular defensive play at shortstop as he snagged a line drive by Dowd out of the air.

Dowd followed with an unconventional one-two-three inning in both the second and fourth innings. The Bearcats’ only earned run came in the third inning after an RBI triple by Justin Miller drove in Brett Walker.

Offensively the Bulldogs continued to tally run after run. A two-hit second inning doubled West County’s score and a three-hit third brought six more across the plate.

James Whitehead was the first man to reach in the second following an error by the shortstop. Following a single by Stacy, Watson delivered his first hit of the game to drive in Whitehead, and another error, this time by the first baseman, put runners at the corners with only one out. A double-steal brought Jesse Dean home for the 8-3 lead.

In the third, the mistakes continued to pile up for the Bearcats as three wild pitches, two hit by pitches, an error and a passed ball led to a six-run inning for West County. Dean was the only man to knock in runs in the inning as he sent a pitch right back through the middle of the infield for a two-RBI single.

A pick-off in the fourth started to send Lesterville’s bench into a frenzy, and in the fifth inning the Bulldogs were entertained by the Bearcats once again after a close play at first was given to West County to seal the 11-run victory.

Stacy finished with the afternoons’ strongest performance at the plate with three hits in four at-bats and three runs scored.

The Bulldogs will try to build a six-game winning streak this afternoon when they travel to Ste. Genevieve for a tough match-up with Valle.

Lesterville 201 00 - 3 3 4 5

West County 446 0x - 14 10 3 7

WP - Dowd 5i 3r 1er 3h 5k 4bb

Hitting:

Lesterville - Chadbourne, Green. 3b Miller

West County - Stacy 2, Nettles 2, Dean 2, Wilhelm, Watson. 2b Stacy. 3b Gidden