The Preston Pirate varsity spring baseball team improved to 14-1 on the year Monday evening with a decisive 16-0 win over the Liberty (Mounds) Tigers.
The Preston Pirate varsity spring baseball team improved to 14-1 on the year Monday evening with a decisive 16-0 win over the Liberty (Mounds) Tigers.
The run-rule victory was the second-straight shutout decision for the Pirates over Liberty (Mounds) in a span of four days, as Preston blanked the Tigers by an identical 16-0 margin last Thursday in an opening-round meeting at the 2nd Annual Bobby Mudd Memorial Tournament in Mounds.
The two teams were scheduled to face off for a third-consecutive time Thursday afternoon in the first round of the 2023 Dawson Sumner Invitational tournament in Preston.
In Monday’s road battle at Liberty (Mounds), the Pirates began the scoring with four runs in the top of the first. The Preston squad then added seven in the second and five in the third for the shutout win.
Noah Wilson earned the pitching decision for Preston, allowing just one base hit in three shutout innings of work, while striking out eight and walking two.
The offensive leaders for Preston on Monday were Kellen Dean (2 for 3, single, double, RBI), Luke Hankins (2 for 2, 2 singles, 3 RBIs), and Preston Hale (2 for 3, single, double, 2 RBIs) with two hits apiece.
The other Pirate base hits against Liberty (Mounds) came on a single by Braxton Kennedy, RBI single by Easton Shaw, 2-run double by Wilson, and a solo home run in the first by Cooper Ausbrooks. Shaw also had an RBI groundout in the first, while Ausbrooks also drove in a run in the second with an RBI walk.
Jayden Herring did not record an official at-bat on Monday, drawing a walk in each of his three plate appearances in the contest. --- Preston 16, Liberty 0
Preston: 4 - 7 - 5 16 - 10 - 0 Liberty:0-0-0 0-1-2 WP: Noah Wilson LP: Cargil HR: Preston: Cooper Ausbrooks
