West End wins county tourney opener
Patriots defeat Glencoe 16-8, move on to face Eagles
![West End catcher Levi Armstrong tries to field a throw while a Glencoe baserunner attempts to move around Armstrong to score during Friday´s Etowah County Baseball Tournament in Sardis City. [Kevin Taylor/The Gadsden Times]](/gcdn/authoring/2019/03/29/NTGT/ghows-DA-854356f1-cee1-7b78-e053-0100007f7b62-aa3d204d.jpeg?width=660&height=478&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
SARDIS CITY — West End outlasted Glencoe 16-8 in what started out as the first round of the Etowah County baseball tournament and turned into a marathon.
After close to three hours and 15 minutes of baseball, the Patriots (7-3) advanced to the semifinals and will play No. 1 seed Hokes Bluff at 11 a.m. at Sardis on Saturday.
West End took a 4-0 lead after the top half of the second inning, but Glencoe (5-7) tacked on four runs of its own in the bottom half to tie it.
The Patriots grabbed the momentum and lead back after totaling five runs in the third inning, with three runs coming off Glencoe errors. The other two came from a Jackson Tidmore single.
The Yellow Jackets trimmed the deficit to 9-7 after three runs in the fourth, but the Patriots added one run in the fifth inning and three runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings to grow their lead to nine runs, their largest of the night.
Star of the Night
Jacob Jones had three hits and five at-bats with two RBI for West End.
By the Numbers
11 – Errors committed by both teams. Glencoe totaled seven while West End had four. ... 14 – Amount of walks in the game. The Yellow Jackets walked nine while the Patriots walked five. ... 6 – Glencoe tossed six different pitchers in the game.
Coachspeak
“That’s the first time we’ve played in eight days. We had a couple of games earlier in the week that got canceled so we weren’t real sharp pitching or defensively. Luckily we hit the ball better tonight than we’ve been hitting in the last few games. Maybe after getting some work today we will clean it up tomorrow.” — West End coach Joe Payne
West End Stat Sheet
Zach Rubio and Levi Armstrong each had two hits. Rubio added one RBI. Eli Pearce and Tidmore each had one hit and three RBI. AJ Taylor finished with one hit and one RBI. Taylor got the win in five innings. He gave up seven hits, seven runs (five earned), struck out four and walked five. Austin Mikel tossed the final two innings and allowed one hit, one run and struck out three.
Glencoe Stat Sheet
Bryan Benefield, Alec Pointer and Collin Hardy each had two hits. Hardy had two RBI while Benefield and Pointer each totaled one RBI. Cam Harris and Kade Crowder each finished with one hit and one RBI. Carson Naylor tallied one RBI.