Published: July 18, 2008 11:41 pm         

Doss is boss for Huntington

Catcher hits two homers in Babe Ruth win

Huntington Southeast used its standard attack to advance in the state Babe Ruth League tournament.

Highlighted by two home runs by Lucas Doss, Huntington outslugged Harrison County 12-10 Friday in the 14-year-old tournament at Harry Lewin Field in Beckley.

Huntington, the No. 1 seed, takes on Elkins at 1:30 p.m. today in a winners’ bracket game. The winner advances to Sunday’s championship game.

Doss had a big day for Huntington, which pounded out 12 hits. His solo homer to lead off the second spearheaded an eight-run outburst that saw Huntington send 11 batters to the plate.

Doss, the Huntington catcher, added a two-run shot in the fourth that eventually proved to be huge.

“It was a team effort,” said Doss, a rising sophomore at Cabell Midland High. “We play as a team, we win and lose as a team.”

More often than not, Huntington rides its offense.

“We have always been a good hitting team,” coach Mark Bell said.

That proved true Friday, and Doss put his hitting prowess on display. His solo shot went to straight-away center field, and his two-run homer stayed just inside the foul pole in left.

“That first one, I was just trying to make contact,” Doss said. “The second one, again, I was trying to make contact, but I didn’t think it had enough pop (to get out).”

Huntington looked to be in control after taking an 8-0 lead in the second. They had seven hits in the inning, but also were helped by Harrison’s four errors.

Jacob Reynolds, Cole Shull and Matt Napier all had RBIs as Huntington chased Harrison starter Brandon Purkey after 1 1/3 innings.

But Harrison came right back in the top of the third, scoring six runs on five hits. The inning was highlighted by back-to-back homers from Luke Ash and Corey Mann. Ash’s was a two-run blast over the tall chain link fence in right, followed by Mann’s opposite-field shot to nearly the same spot.

“We had a couple opportunities in the first inning to score and we didn’t,” Harrison coach Don Maraney said. “We dug ourselves a hole (in the second), but our guys didn’t quit. They (Huntington) are too good to fall behind by eight runs like that.”

Huntington got two of the runs back in the bottom of the third on a run-scoring double by Elias Haikal and a RBI groundout by Steve Mason.

Doss’ fourth-inning homer made it 12-7.

Cody Brown relived Mason in the fifth and was perfect through two innings before encountering trouble in the seventh.

Zach Teter singled and Travis Maraney and Trey Oliverio walked to load the bases with nobody out. Chase Alonso then reached on an error and Teter scored to make it 12-8.

Mann’s sacrifice fly to right scored Maraney, and Oliverio scored on Justin Lantz’s groundout to get it to 12-10.

Ben Williams then popped out to end the game.

Mason got the win despite giving up seven runs on nine hits over four innings. He struck out three and did not walk a batter.

n n n

Beckley stayed alive with a 20-1 pasting of Big Creek in Friday’s late game.

Juwan Walton hit a triple and Sean Poling drove in a run for Beckley, which scored in every inning.

Jay Webb worked three innings of relief to get the win. Starter Brandon Wheeler pitched two perfect innings, striking out four of the six batters he faced.

Beckley takes on Harrison County at 4 p.m. today in an elimination game. The winner faces the Elkins/Huntington Southeast loser at 6:30 p.m. today.

— E-mail:

gfauber@register-herald.com



Huntington Southeast 12, Harrison County 10

HC: 006 100 3 — 10 10 6

HS: 082 200 x — 12 12 4

HC: Brandon Purkey, Zach Teter (2), John Koon (3) and Luke Ash, HS: Steve Mason, Cody Brown (5) and Lucas Doss. WP — Mason. LP — Purkey. Hitting — HC: Teter 3-4, Travis Maraney 2-3 (2 rbi), Purkey (rbi), Ash (hr, 3 rbi), Corey Mann (hr, 2 rbi), Justin Lantz (2b, rbi), HS: Jacob Reynolds 3-4 (rbi), Cole Shull (rbi), Matt Napier 2-4 (2b, rbi), Doss 2-4 (2 hr, 3 rbi), Brown (2b), Elias Haikal 2-2 (2b, 2 rbi), Mason (rbi).



Beckley 20, Big Creek 1, 5 innings

Be: 534 62 — 20 9 0

BC: 001 00 — 1 3 2

Be: Brandon Wheeler, Jay Webb (3) and Daniel Rose, Brady Pittman (3), BC: Devon Johnson, Bradley Hardy (4), Devon Gray (5), Zack Boyd (5) and Josh Graham. WP — Webb. LP — Johnson. Hitting — Be: Juwan Walton (3b), Sean Poling (rbi), J.C. Pennington (1b), Wheeler (1b), Pittman (1b), William Webb (1b), Mark Glenn (1b), BC: Graham (2b), Lashawn Benton (2b).