No. 1 Burns plays long ball, remains unbeaten following win over Draughn
The state knows that the 2A baseball title goes through Lawndale.
Burns' 22nd straight win to start the season showed why.
Four batters into the bottom of the first inning, the Bulldogs had already mashed a pair of two-run home runs to dig themselves out of an early 2-0 deficit.
From there, the defending champs turned to their aces Colby Putnam and Jackson Toney to take them to the finish line of an 8-3 win over Draughn.
After Toney and Marshall McGowan went yard in the first, McGowan teed off for another in the second to put the game out of reach.
A wild pitch and errant return throw to the plate energized the road side in the top of the first. Logan McGee and Tate Jensen's courtesy runner Gavin Johnson both crossed on the play to give Draughn the quick 2-0 advantage.
The home run derby gave Burns a 5-2 lead through two.
With the bases loaded in the third and the lineup flipping over to the top for a third time, Nick Williams lofted a fly ball to right that was dropped to allow two more runs to score.
Draughn got a run back in the fourth when Jacob Mull singled and scored on a Logan Carswell sacrifice bunt.
McGowan turned a hit by pitch in the sixth into a run that pushed Burns ahead 8-3. Gabriel Holiday picked up an RBI on the play thanks to a single that was dumped into right.
Tate Jensen got the start, and threw four innings for the Wildcats. He only allowed four hits, and four earned runs while striking out five.
For the Bulldogs, Putnam reached back and seemed to find his best stuff as the game wore on. After the early crooked number, he went on to strike out ten and scatter only four hits. Toney pitched the seventh and struck out a pair.
With one game remaining in the regular season, Burns is 22-0. The Bulldogs host Shelby on Friday with senior night festivities planned. Prior to Wednesday's game, the team honored coach Alex Leonhardt for becoming the program's all-time winningest head coach with a record of 111-41.
Draughn closes out its regular season next week with a two-game series against Mountain Heritage. The Wildcats are 15-4 overall, and 9-1 in the Western Highlands 1A/2A conference.
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