Pirates win home finale

GOSNELL -- Blake Sullivan pitched four scoreless innings and Gosnell took advantage of eight Pocahontas errors to win its final home game, 14-6, Tuesday afternoon.

The Pirates broke a scoreless tie by exploding for six runs in the second inning and four more in the third for a 10-0 lead.

That was plenty for Sullivan, who allowed no runs and just one hit, a walk and two hit batsmen, while striking out five before turning it over to Taylor Jolly in the fifth.

Pocahontas scored five in the fifth to cut the lead in half, 10-5, but the Pirates rallied in their half for four runs, including an Austin Davis two-run blast. The Redskins, who had two home runs on the windy day, scored their final run in the top of the seventh.

"I'm extremely proud of our baseball team," Gosnell head coach Bret Jackson said. "We set ourselves up for a one or a two seed and possibly a conference championship. I think we're peaking at the right time. Blake Sullivan and our pitchers seem to be coming into form. The last four games we've scored 69 runs."

Gosnell (12-5 overall, 7-2 4A-3) can wrap up a league title and a No. 1 seed going into next week's district tournament with a win at Westside on Saturday.

Scoring all of its second-inning runs with two outs Tuesday night, Gosnell took control of the game in the frame thanks to some timely hits and Redskin errors.

Bryce Smith started the rally with a one-out single, and Beau Griggs entered as a pinch runner, stealing second.

Brad Thomas was then hit by a pitch and moved to second as Griggs stole third on the double steal. Ricky Gable drove them both in with a two-out single up the middle, then scored on a Taylor Jolly double to make it 3-0.

The Pirates were just getting started.

Jake Westmoreland was hit by a pitch and Zach Perrin followed with a single to left, bringing in Jolly.

Sullivan then drew a walk to load the bases and initiate a Redskin pitching change.

Ethan Ballard reached on an error at short that allowed Westmoreland and Perrin to cross the plate for a 6-0 lead.

The Redskins tried to rally in the third, but Perrin threw out the Pocahontas runner trying to steal third to end the inning.

Gosnell piled on four more in its half of the third.

Smith poked a base hit to right to lead off the inning and Thomas reached on an error in center. Cody Johnson then reached on a fielders choice as the Pocahontas shortstop fired over the catcher's head as Smith scored from third.

Gable followed with a single and Johnson scored on an error.

With Gable at third, Jolly launched a sacrifice fly to right, making it 10-0.

Perrin was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs, and Gable was 2-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs to lead the Pirate sticks. Jolly was 1-for-5, Smith 1-for-2, Thomas 1-for-3 and Davis and Jay Chandler 1-for-1 each.

mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com