By Shawn Stinson
The Pendleton County baseball team will try to build some momentum as it heads into the final week of the regular season.
Pendleton dropped all three of its contests last week to fall to 6-11 on the season.
Moorefield scored 10 runs in the top of the sixth to pull away to post a 16-1 victory against Pendleton in six innings on April 26 in Franklin. The Yellow Jackets took advantage of a handful of errors by the Wildcats to score seven unearned runs in the sixth.
Caleb Armentrout and Landon Colaw recorded a hit for the Wildcats. Jayden Roberson reached on an error and scored Pendleton’s only run of the contest.
Pendleton coach Sam Yokum said the Moorefield players “hit the ball really well.” He added his players “didn’t strike out much and put the ball in play.”
“We just didn’t find any holes,” Yokum said.
Jefferson downed Pendleton in two contests at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York. The Cougars claimed the first matchup 9-1 and cruised to a 16-2 win in the final clash.
Jefferson jumped out to a 6-0 lead after three innings. Yokum said all of Jefferson’s runs at this point in the contest were unearned.
Clayton Kisamore slugged a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to trim Pendleton’s deficit to five. Kisamore’s shot bounced off the Doubleday Field sign atop the scoreboard in left field.
Brayden Beachler and Leroy Smith had hits for the Wildcats.
“We struck out too much,” Yokum said. “We looked at too many strikes.”
The Cougars used an eight-run second inning to roll to a five-inning win in the getaway contest between the two teams.
Josiah Kimble and Jasper Mullins notched the only hits for Pendleton in the loss.
“We didn’t hit,” Yokum said. “We took too many strikes again.”
Yokum added nearly 40 people from Pendleton made the trip to Cooperstown and visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Pendleton was scheduled to square off with Highland County (Virginia) on May 2, but officials were forced to cancel the contest. Pendleton was set to face Tucker County on May 3 in Franklin. Pendleton was scheduled to take on East Hardy May 4 in Baker. Pendleton will close out the regular season at 6 p.m. today when it plays host to Petersburg in Franklin.