Here is a recap of the Dixie District 3 O-Zone Baseball Tournament held at JC Field in Blacksburg and hosted by the Blacksburg Baseball Association.

Pulaski East Eliminates Patrick County In Semifinals

In the nightcap of the second semi-final game Tuesday night, Pulaski East eliminated Patrick County 8-3 in a game that was much closer than the score indicated.

Nathaniel Remington was the starting pitcher for Pulaski and promptly retired the Patrick Co. side, facing just four batters.

In the bottom of the 1st, Pulaski scored a run to pull ahead 1-0.  Leadoff hitter Jordan Lytton led off by drawing a walk and then stole 2B.  He advanced on a throwing error, and scored on a RBI fielder's choice by Alex Akers.  Nathaniel Remington reached with a single, but was stranded. 

Neither Patrick County nor Pulaski East would score in the 2nd inning due to good pitching and solid defense.  After two complete innings, Pulaski would lead 1-0.

In the top of the 3rd, Patrick Co. would score a run to tie the game at 1-1.  Tanner Epperson led off by drawing a walk, and then stole both 2B and 3B.  Wesley Hudson also drew a walk and in a 1st and 3rd situation, Hudson stole 2B.  After two strike outs, Patrick's leadoff hitter Kristian Ashburn hit a RBI single to score Epperson.

Pulaski promptly responded by scoring three runs in the bottom of the 3rd.  Alex Dalton led off the inning with a walk, and advanced to 2B on a passed ball, and then stole 3B.  After an out, leadoff hitter Brandon Lytton drew a walk.  With a 1st and 3rd situation, Lytton stole 2B to put runners and 2B and 3B.  After a second out, Trent Blankenship hit a 2 RBI triple, scoring Dalton and Lytton.  Nathaniel Remington then hit a single to score Blankenship.  A 3rd out stranded Remington. After three complete innings, Pulaski East would lead 4-1.

Patrick County failed to score in the top of the 4th, while Pulaski added a run to push the score to 5-1.  Zach Barker led off the inning with a double and moved to 3B on a ground ball out.   With one out, Braden Blevins hit an RBI single to score Barker.  Drew Mabry followed with a single, but the threat was ended on a very nice double play by Patrick County. 

In the top of the 5th, Patrick County made things very interesting.  Thatcher Blankenship led off by drawing a walk.  Jared Brown also drew a walk, but Blankenship was thrown out at third attempting to steal on a throw by Pulaski, recording its first out of the inning.  Brown moved to 2B on the play.  Tanner Epperson then hit a RBI single, scoring Brown.  Epperson then stole 2B.  After an out, Hunter Lawless reached via an error.  With two outs, Dylan Phillips hit a RBI single, scoring Epperson to make the score 5-3.  With runners on 1st and 3rd, the Patrick County threat was ended when Pulaski's Alex Akers struck out Patrick's cleanup hitter.

In the bottom of the 5th, Pulaski broke the game open by scoring three runs on 3 hits and 2 errors.  Alex Akers led off the inning with a single, but was forced out on a FC by Trent Blankenship.  Blankenship stole 2B and then scored on an RBI single by Nathaniel Remington.  Jaden Frazier then hit a single and advanced on an error.  Alex Dalton then reached on an error and Frazier scored on the play.  The next batter was retired for the 3rd out.  After 5 complete innings, Pulaski East led 8-3. 

Patrick County failed to rally in the top of the 6th as Alex Akers got Patrick to go three up and three down to end the game.

Pulaski's starting pitcher Nathaniel Remington got the win, pitching 3 innings; giving up just one hit, walked three, and struck out three.

Alex Akers pitched in relief, giving up three hits, walking three, and striking out five.

For Patrick County, Tanner Epperson pitched three innings, giving up 4 hits, walked four, and struck out two.

Dylan Phillips pitched in relief, pitching two innings, giving up six hits.

Blacksburg Eliminates Christiansburg In Semifinals

In the first semi-final game Tuesday night, Blacksburg beat Christiansburg 7-2 to eliminate the Demons from the Dixie District 3 Tournament. 

Jared Wulbrun would start the game for Blacksburg, only facing 4 batters in the first inning.  Defensively, Blacksburg had a nice double play to end the inning. 

In the bottom of the first, Blacksburg got off to a quick start by scoring 4 runs.  Jared Madigan led off the inning with a single, but was put out on a FC at 2B.  After two outs, the Bruins got things rolling when Cole Epperely hit a RBI single, scoring Nathan Stern, who reached on a FC.  Jared Wulbrun drew a walk, and then Grant Johnston hit a 2 RBI single.  Craig Weaver followed with a RBI double and Davis Roberson also hit a double.  Both Weaver and Roberson were stranded to end the inning.  After one complete inning, Blacksburg led 4-0.

Great pitching and good defense by both Christiansburg and Blacksburg would lead to scoreless innings in the 2nd and 3rd innings.

In the top of the 4th, Christiansburg would score two runs, to cut the lead to 4-2.  Hunter Davis led off with a single, followed by a RBI double by Kyle Johnson.  After an out, Zach Taft had a single, followed by a single by Ryan McFee.  Shawn Buchner then drew a walk.  Taft scored on a WP, but McFee and Buchner were stranded on base to end the Christiansburg threat.  

Blacksburg quickly responded, picking up 3 runs in the bottom half of the 4th to extend their lead to 7-2.  Jared Wulbrun led off with a deep single.  Grant Johnston singled to advance Wulbrun to 3B.  Johnston then stole 2B on a 1st and 3B situation, and scored on Craig Weaver's RBI fielder's choice.  After an out, Dom Hughes drew a walk.  Jared Madigan then hit another single, advancing Hughes to 3B and then stole 2B in a 1st and 3rd situation.  Nathan Stern had an RBI single, scoring Hughes.  Stern and Madigan would both be stranded after a third out. After 4 complete innings, the Bruins led 7-2.

Christiansburg and Blacksburg both went three up and three down in the 5th inning. 

In the top of the 6th, Kyle Johnson led off with a walk.  William Stoudt reached on a FC, resulting in Johnson getting out. After two WPs, Stoudt scored on a passed ball to make the score 7-3.  The game ended with two consecutive strike outs of the 5th and 6th hole batters. 

Blacksburg's Jared Wulbrun got the win, pitching the first three innings, and allowing just two hits, and striking out two. Nathan Stern pitched in relief, and after settling down following the 4th inning, he retired the side in the 5th, only giving up one hit in the 6th.  He struck out the last two batters to end the game. 

Offensively, Blacksburg was led by Grant Johnston who had two singles and two RBIs.  Jared Madigan also had two singles. Craig Weaver had a double and 2 RBIs while Davis Roberson and Chris Wyscoki each doubled.  Tiquest Terry and Cole Epperley both had singles and Epperley added an RBI.

Pulaski Outduels Blacksburg in the Winner Bracket Finals

In the largely attended Monday night game of the Dixie Youth District 3 Finals, Pulaski beat Blacksburg, 9-6, and the Cougars are now the only team left in the tournament without a loss.

Blacksburg led off the top of the first, scoring a run to pull ahead 1-0.  Nathan Stern was HBP and then stole 2nd base. After Cole Epperley drew a walk, Jared Wulburn had an RBI single to score Stern.

In the bottom of the 1st, Pulaski promptly responded by jumping on Blacksburg with 5 runs.  After an out, Anthony Akers had a single, and scored on a triple by Trent Blankenship.  Nathananel Remington responded with a single to score Blankenship.  Jaden Frazier then hit a double to move Remington to 3rd.  Zach Barker hit a single to score Remington. After a second out, Alex Dalton then drew a walk to load the bases.  With the score 3-1 and bases loaded, a Blacksburg infield error allowed two runs to score to push the score to 5-1. 

The Bruins responded in the top of the 2nd by picking up 3 runs to close the gap to 5-4.  Craig Weaver started the inning by getting HBP, and moved to 2nd on a passed ball.  Davis Roberson and Dom Hughes both followed by drawing a walk and Chris Wysocki was HBP.  With bases loaded, Jacob Lucas then hit a single to score Weaver.  Tiquest Terry had an RBI single to score Roberson.  After a Bruin runner was picked off 3rd base to record the first out, Jared Madigan then singled to score Wysocki.  With bases loaded and just one out, Blacksburg failed to push any more runs across the plate. 

Pulaski East was held scoreless in the bottom of the 2nd on good pitching by Jared Madigan, who came in to pitch in relief and started the inning. 

In the top of the 3rd, Blacksburg added two more runs to pull ahead 6-5.  After an out, Jared Wulbrun drew a walk. Grant Johnston reached via an error, and then after a runner was caught stealing, Craig Weaver singled.  Davis Roberson then hit a two RBI single to score Johnston and Weaver. 

Pulaski was held scoreless in the bottom half of the 3rd on another good inning by Madigan.  After three complete innings, Blacksburg led 6-5.

Blacksburg could not score in the top of the 4th, and Pulaski responded by scoring 2 runs to pull ahead 7-6.  After two quick outs, Pulaski's Trent Blankenship singled and stole 2nd.  A two RBI home run by Nathanael Remington pushed the score to 7-6.  Blacksburg would retire the next batter to end the inning.

Pulaski's Trent Blankenship entered the game as a pitcher in the top of the 5th and struck out 5 of the 6 batters he would face in the last two innings and shut down Blacksburg. 

Pulaski added two insurance runs in the bottom of the 5th.  Zach Barker drew a leadoff walk, and after an out, Alex Dalton singled.  Chris Remington drew a walk to load the bases.  Dom Hughes came into to close and promptly got Pulaski’s leadoff batter into a double play ball, but Blacksburg could only record one out on the play.  Jordan Lytton was credited with the RBI FC.  A single by Alex Akers then scored Dalton.  Hughes retired the next batter for the 3rd out.

Pulaski's Alex Akers got the win for the Cougars.

Patrick County Eliminates Montgomery Co. 6-2

In the second game on Monday of the Dixie Youth District 3 Tournament, Patrick County defeated Montgomery County 6-2. 

Patrick County picked up 2 runs in the top of the 1st when Kristina Ashburn led off with a single and then advanced on a FC, and scored on a single by Dylan Phillips.  Phillips stole 2nd base, and moved around on a passed ball, and scored on a WP. 

Patrick scored two more runs in the top of the 2nd to pull ahead 4-0.  Levi Carter led off with a double to the gap, and advanced to 2nd on a WP.  After Thatcher Blankenship drew a walk, a balk by Montgomery County scored Carter and moved Blankenship to 2nd base.  Blankenship moved to 3rd on a FC and then scored on FC.

Montgomery County scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the 2nd.  Landon Lawson led off by getting HBP.  He stole 2nd and third and scored on a RBI FC by Brady Harris.  After two complete innings, the score was 4-1.

Both teams were held scoreless in the 3rd and 4th innings on strong pitching by both teams.

Patrick County added two more insurance runs in the top of the 5th to go ahead 6-1.  Hunter Lawless and Dylan Phillips both had RBI singles in the inning and Wesley Hudson scored on a FC.

Patrick's Seth Scott went the distance to get the win for his team.  Scott allowed just four hits and struck out six. 

Christiansburg Eliminates Radford 6-1

In the first game Monday of the Dixie Youth District 3 Tournament, Christiansburg beat Radford 6-1 on strong pitching by Zach Taft and Kyle Johnson, each pitching 3 innings.

Christiansburg wasted little time getting started, scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the 1st and then cruising to victory from there.  The Demons would send 9 players to the plate, five of whom scored.  The inning was highlighted by Kyle Johnson and William Stoudt, who both reached with singles and Shawn Buchner had an RBI single.  Zach Taft followed with a single, and after a batter reached via an error, Tommy Darr had an RBI single. 

Zach Taft pitched the first three innings for Christiansburg, allowing just 3 hits, 1 walk, and striking out one batter. 

Christiansburg would add an insurance run in the bottom of the 4th to pull ahead 6-0.  Zach Taft singled, followed by a Ryan McFee single.  Taft scored in the inning after moving around on a passed ball and scoring on a WP.

Radford would pick up a run in the top of the 6th. Taylor Newsome reached via an error, stole second, and moved to 3rd on a throwing error.  He later scored on Reese Williamson's RBI sacrifice fly.

Kyle Johnson pitched the last 3 innings for Christiansburg, allowing just two hits and striking out two.

Pulaski East Edges Christiansburg 2-1 In A Tough Fought Game

Pulaski East edged Christiansburg 2-1 in a very close game dominated by great pitching. Both of Pulaski's runs were unearned, but played great defense to get the win Sunday evening.

Pulaski's Jordan Lytton started the game with a leadoff single, which would be only one of three hits by the Cougars.  Drew Mabry hit a double in the top of the 4th, and later scored on a Christiansburg error, to put Pulaski ahead 1-0.

Christiansburg managed just two hits of their own.  The Demon's Kyle Johnson led off the bottom of the 2nd with a single, but was stranded. 

In the Bottom of the 4th with Pulaski leading 1-0, Hunter Sewel led off the inning by drawing a walk, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a RBI single by Hunter Davis.  This tied the game at 1-1.   

The game was tied 1-1 in the 6th, when an infield error by Christiansburg allowed Pulaski to pull ahead and win the game 2-1. Zack Barker led off the 6th with a single, advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch, and moved to third on a FC.  He scored on an infield error.

Christiansburg's William Stoudt was outstanding for Christiansburg, going the distance for Christiansburg, permitting just three hits, and striking out six.

Pulaski's Alex Akers also pitched very well, going three innings, and permitting just one hit.  Trent Blankenship earned the win, pitching in three innings in relief, allowing no hits and striking out six, and stopping any future threat by Christiansburg.  He entered the game in the 4th with two men on, and was able to force the Demons into three straight routine outs.

Patrick County Beats Pulaski West 9-6 On Sunday

Patrick County picked up two runs in the top of the first inning.  Hunter Lawless singled, Dylan Phillips then drew a walk, then William Wood hit a two RBI single to score both Lawless and Phillips.

In the bottom of the 1st, Patrick County pitcher Jared Brown held Pulaski West hitless.

In the top of the 2nd, Thatcher Blankenship singled, but was stranded as Pulaski Pitcher Hunter Shrewsberry held Patrick County scoreless.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Brown went 3 up and 3 down, striking out 2 Cougar players.

In the top of the 3rd, Patrick picked up 5 runs by drawing two walks and getting three hits.  The inning was highlighted by William Wood's two RBI double.  Levi Carter knocked in two runs with a single, while Dylan Phillips had a single.  After 3 innings, Patrick County led 7-0.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Barry Buckner got the first Pulaski hit of the game, but was stranded. 

In the top of the 4th, Patrick was held scoreless by Pulaski's Camden Underwood.  In the bottom half of the inning, Pulaski West would stage a comeback, picking up 5 runs to make the score 7-5.  RJ Blevins started the inning getting hit by a pitch.  After an out, the Cougars responded with 4 hits and a walk, highlighted by Brody Fields and Hunter Shrewsberry, who both had 2 RBI singles.  Taylor Queen added a double, and Houston Webb had a single.

In the top of the 5th, Dylan Wood was HBP, and came around to score on William Wood's FC, extending Patrick's lead 8-5.

In the bottom of the 5th, Camden Underwood was drew a walk and scored on a RBI single by Brody Fields to pull Pulaski within two runs at 8-6.

In the top of the 6th, Patrick County would add an insurance run to push the score to 9-6, when Thathcer Blankenship reached on an error, stole second, and scored on a RBI single by Tanner Epperson. 

Pulaski West got a single by Austin Harrell, but was stranded, ending the game 9-6. 

Jared Brown was the winning pitcher for Patrick County.

Blacksburg Beats Radford 12-2 In 5 Innings Sunday

Blacksburg picked up two runs in the top of the first to pull ahead 2-0.  Jared Madigan led off with a single, moved himself around on an error and a passed ball.  Madigan scored on a single Nathan Stern.  Stern advanced to 2nd and then third on a wild pitch, and scored on a FC by Cole Epperley.

In the top of the 2nd, Blacksburg added six runs to go ahead 8-0.  Grant Johnston led off with a single, and scored on a deep hard hit single by Craig Weaver.  Davis Roberson hit a deep single to score Weaver.  Chris Wysocki, Jacob Lucas, Jared Madigan, and Nathan Stern all singled.

Radford picked up a run in the bottom of the 2nd.  Chance Morris singled advanced to second on a balk, advanced to 3rd on FC.  Morris scored on a Blacksburg balk.

In the top of third, Cole Epperly singled, but was forced a single on a single by Jared Wulburn.  Jared then stole second and advanced to home on a play at the plate on an error throw to the outfield by the Radford catcher.   The Bruins would lead 9-1 after the half inning.

In the bottom of the third, JW Bethea led off with a single, followed by Elijah Duncan to put runners at first and second with no outs.  After a FC, pitcher Grant Johnston got a second Radford player to hit into another FC.  Bethea would score on the play.  A third FC would end the Radford threat.

In the top of the 4th, Blacksburg Davis Roberson would single with one out.  Dom Hughes and Jared Madigna would both walk to load the bases.  Wesley McCoy drew a RBI walk to score Roberson.  A bases loaded FC ended the threat to make

In the bottom of the 4th, Radford was held scoreless by pitcher Grant Johnston.

In the top of the 5th, Jared Wilburn led off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a passed ball.  Grant Johnston reached via an error, and advanced to third on a single by Craig Weaver.   With a 1st and 3rd situation, Weaver stole second to put runners at 2nd and 3rd.  Johnston would score on a passed ball.   Dom Hughes then bunted for a single.  Blacksburg ended their threat with two consecutive outs.

In the bottom of the 5th, Grant Johnston went three up and three down to end the game 12-2.

Starter Jared Wulburn gave up one run and one hit.  Reliever Grant Johnston gave up one run on two hits. 

Photo: Christiansburg shortstop Zach Taft nails the ball against Patrick County. (Photo by Wendell Jones)

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