PINE BLUFF BRAVES SWEEP STAR CITY TWIN BILL AT TAYLOR

Special to The Commercial

The Pine Bluff Braves semi-pro baseball team squeaked by the hosting Star City 19-and-under team 13-11 in eight innings and 3-0 in a doubleheader Wednesday at Taylor Field.

The first contest was a seesaw battle with Pine Bluff taking advantage of a pair of Star City errors and a double by Keenan McCoy to center to go up by two in the eighth.

Star City sent eight to the plate in the bottom half of the inning, pounding out four hits. Ross Weatherford drove in two of Star City’s four runs.

The Braves sent ten men to the plate in the fifth to score six runs. Corey McCoy led off the inning with a double off the top of the wall in left-center, and Jerome McCollum, Keenan McCoy, Rashad Billingsley and Davis had an RBI apiece.

But Star City responded in similar fashion in the bottom of the fifth, sending 10 to the plate and scoring six times to maintain a 10-9 advantage. Trey Dannehl, Weatherford, Seth Bryant, Robinson, Tommy Irwin and James White did most of the damage.

Back-to-back RBIs from Earl White and Keenan McCoy got the Braves ahead again 11-10 in the sixth.

Bryant opened the Star City seventh with a walk. Then he scored the tying run when Robinson’s sacrifice bunt created an error that moved the winning run to third.

The next batter was hit by a pitch to put men on the corners before Cleveland struck out the next batter. Robinson came on a suicide squeeze attempt, but the Star City batter missed the ball to leave Robinson on base. Cleveland then got that batter to strike out to go to extras.

Corey McCoy scored the winning run after walking and stealing two bases. He came home on Keenan McCoy’s fourth RBI.

In the second game, Terrance Davis pitched his second no-hitter in as many starts for Pine Bluff, as the Braves won the second contest in three innings.