HANCEVILLE, Ala. – The Vinemont Eagles traveled to take on Hanceville Tuesday night, and the Bulldogs were able to collect an important 10-5 area win at home. Mark Dyer got the start and the win on the hill for Hanceville after tossing five innings with no hits and 12 strikeouts. Drew Campbell pitched the last two innings to seal the win for the Bulldogs and pick up the save.
Hanceville took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI single from Ashton James and the Bulldogs stretched it 2-0 in the bottom of the second with an RBI single. An error and a passed ball made it a 4-0 game in the third and RBI singles from Tate Brown and Zach Campbell extended the early lead to 6-0.
Two more runs came across for Hanceville in the fourth on a passed ball and an error to make it an 8-0 game, but Vinemont scored on an error and a fielder’s choice in the top of the fifth to get on the scoreboard and trim the lead to 8-2. An RBI double from Travis Hopper made it 8-3 in the sixth and Isaac Smith singled just a few pitches later to cut the lead to 8-4.
The Bulldogs got some insurance in the bottom half of the sixth with a two-run single from Alex Campbell and Hanceville pulled away to win it 10-5 and collect another area victory.
Brown and James each finished with two hits and an RBI for the Bulldogs and Campbell led the way with a pair of RBIs in the win. Smith finished with a hit and two RBIs for the Eagles and Clay Rogers drove in a run in the loss as well.
Other Tuesday night scores:
West Point 1 – Russellville 0 (baseball)
Russellville traveled to West Point to take on the Warriors in a huge area game on Tuesday, and, in what turned out to be a pitchers’ duel, the home team squeaked out a 1-0 victory over the Golden Tigers.
West Point starter Aubry Cleghorn gave up a leadoff double to start out the game and after the runner moved to third on a groundout, Cleghorn got the next two hitters to pop out and strike out to get the Warriors out of the inning. He struck out five in the first three innings.
It was a battle of who was going to get on the scoreboard first as both starters continued to put up zeros, but the Warriors looked to change that in the bottom of the fifth inning. Whitt Laney hit a leadoff single, then Levi Farley moved him over to second on a sacrifice bunt. Laney advanced to third on an infield single by Hunter Persall. One out later, Rylan Jones came up with a clutch hit as he drilled an RBI single down the right-field line to put West Point on the scoreboard.
Both pitchers put up zeros in the sixth inning, and the Warriors looked to close the game out in the seventh. The Golden Tigers didn’t make it easy, though, as a leadoff double had them looking to tie the game. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner over to third with one out, but Cleghorn got the biggest two outs of the game, getting back-to-back strikeouts, to help preserve the 1-0 shutout victory. West Point improves to 14-16 overall and 3-2 in the area.
Cleghorn gave up just three hits in the win, walked two and struck out eight while throwing 94 pitches. Jones finished with two hits and an RBI, while Hunter Persall, Will Cochran, Carter Thornton, Laney (one run scored) and Farley each chipped in with a hit of his own. The Warriors are now 4-2 in their last six contests and will look to continue that roll at Russellville in a huge doubleheader on Thursday.
Cullman 11 – Hartselle 1 (girls’ soccer)
The Lady Bearcats looked sharp against Hartselle for senior night Tuesday and head coach Jacob Brown was proud to see his team go out and get a little payback.
“It was a good senior night. Went out there and took care of business for a revenge match against Hartselle after they put us out of playoffs last year,” Brown said. “Happy for the win and looking forward to playing Decatur on Friday.”
Abby Branham – 4 goals, 2 assists
Pia Muri – 4 goals, 1 assist
Annabeth Mauldin – 2 goals, 1 assist
Ashlei Bryant – 1 goal
Mimi Lunsford – 1 assist
Addie Echols – 1 assist
Copyright 2019 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2019 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Bill Piper for The Cullman Tribune 
Bill Piper for The Cullman Tribune
