Published: July 17, 2008 11:46 pm         

Beckley outfoxed by Elkins

Fox strikes out 13 in Babe Ruth tourney opener

Elkins proved to be crafty and sneaky in the opening game of the Babe Ruth 14-year-old state tournament Thursday at Harry Lewin Field in Beckley.

Indeed, Elkins was as sly as a ... Fox — Scott Fox, to be more precise. The Elkins hurler kept Beckley hitters guessing all evening, striking out 13 and allowing only three hits and five walks en route to a 7-4 victory.

“He’s a good 14-year-old,” Elkins manager Chris Broughton said. “He played some high school baseball for Elkins (High) for the varsity team. He’s a competitor and proved it tonight. He wants to win ball games. When the going got tough, he came through on that mound and did the job.”

Fox struck out the side 1-2-3 twice, in the second and seventh innings, and faced the minimum four times in seven innings of work.

The contest shaped up as a pitchers’ duel early on with both teams being held hitless.

J.C. Pennington pitched well for Beckley, striking out seven and walking just one in 3 1/3 innings of work.

“(Pennington) got food poisoning earlier in the week. Not making any excuses, but that and the heat worked on him a little bit there at the end,” Beckley manager Darl Poling said. “It was my bad (decision) leaving him in a little bit longer than what I should have.”

Elkins finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning with back-to-back doubles from Fox and Ryan Bonnell.

“That was huge right there,” Broughton said. “That was from our two leaders. They made it happen right there.”

That opened the floodgates as Fox raced home with the first run of the game on a wild pitch.

Bonnell scored on Tyler Bedford groundout and then Corey Howell reached on an error.

Howell went to third on a Caten Murphy single to right field and scored on another wild pitch.

Tyler Foster worked Pennington for a walk before reliever Sean Poling replaced him. Murphy scored on a Tyler Shifflett groundout before Foster was gunned down trying to score from third on another pitch in the dirt.

J.D. Brown provided the winning margin in the next inning, opening things with a walk. Brown advanced to second and third on passed ball before scoring on Fox’s grounder to first base.

“We got runners on base and we made things happen,” Broughton said. “(Beckley) fought back. They played hard.”

After breaking up the no-hitter in the fifth inning, Beckley finally rattled Fox in the sixth.

After Poling reached on a single, Pennington walked and Daniel Rose was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Brady Pittman hit a long sacrifice fly to center to score Poling before Brandon Wheeler jacked a three-run home run to right-center. That brought Beckley back to within a run at 5-4, but Fox slammed the door on the rally.

“I’m proud of my team,” Poling said. “They hung in there. They came back and gave us a chance to come back and win it in the seventh inning.”

Elkins added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away.

Elkins advances to play Saturday in the winners’ bracket, while Beckley plays the loser of Big Creek/Harrison County at 8 p.m. today.



Elkins 7, Beckley 4

B: 000 004 0 — 4 3 2

E: 000 412 x — 7 4 0

B: J.C. Pennington, Sean Poling (4) and Brady Pittman, E: Scott Fox and J.D. Brown. WP — Fox (13k, 5 bb). LP — Pennington (7k 1bb). Hitting — B: Brandon Wheeler 2-2 (hr, 3rbi, run), Pittman (rbi), Poling 1-3 (run), Pennington (run, sb), Rose (run), E: Fox 1-3 (2b, rbi, run), Ryan Bonnell 1-3 (2b, run), Tyler Shifflett (2rbi), Tyler Bedford (rbi), Corey Howell (1-3 (2 runs), Caten Murphy 1-2 (2 runs), Brown (run).