By BY BRUCE HIXON – sports editor
While the Angels did it with a combined effort and the Braves did it with a solo performance, both teams used stellar pitching performance to post wins in Advanced Babe Ruth League Baseball action Friday night at T.R. Miller.
The Angels got a combined three-hit shutout from Jonathan Taylor and Allen Williams to blank the Diamondbacks 4-0. The Braves got a complete game two-hitter from Derek Busby, who recorded 14 strikeouts, in their 6-2 win over Flomaton.
Angels 4, Diamondbacks 0
Taylor made his first pitching performance a successful one, as he shut out the Diamondbacks on just two hits with a pair of strikeouts over three and two-thirds innings before Williams closed the door. Williams allowed just one hit with two strikeouts over the final three and one-third innings.
The Angels (2-0) got the lone run they needed against Diamondbacks pitcher Josh Sawyer in the bottom of the second when Seth Holland beat out an infield single, stole second, went to third on a throwing error and scored on Christopher Griffin's RBI single.
A two-out rally in the third inning helped the Angels stretch that lead to 3-0. Sam Sharpe beat out an infield single and stole both second and third base. Allen Williams walked and stole second prior to set up a two-run single by Corey Williams.
The Angels did not score again until the bottom of the sixth when they picked up an unearned insurance marker. Corey Williams singled, went to second on an error on the hit, went to third on a passed ball and scored when Will Waters reached on an error.
The Diamondbacks got the tying run to the plate with two outs in the top of the seventh before Allen Williams was able to finish things off. James Freeman walked, Tyler Cross doubled and Sawyer, who had earlier singled twice for the Diamondbacks other two hits, walked to fill the bases before Williams got Jake Dixon to ground out to end the game.
Braves 6, Flomaton 2
Busby kept Flomaton off balance nearly all game, but needed some late offensive support from his teammates to get a victory.
Busby struck out at least one hitter in all seven innings and struck out at least two in six of the seven frames.
While Flomaton never did get its bats going, the Braves (3-2) also struggled at the plate most of the game. The Braves managed just five hits against Flomaton pitchers Alex Ortiz and Chris Edwards. Three of those hits came in a decisive four-run rally in the bottom of the fifth.
The Braves gave Busby a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third when they scratched out a couple of runs against Ortiz. Walks to Busby and Conner Denton set up an RBI single by Grant DeFrancisco. Denton scored later in the frame when Ortiz uncorked his second wild pitch of the inning.
Flomaton cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth when Taylor Berry walked and scored on an RBI double by Sam Mize. Mize went to third on a wild pitch with nobody out, but Busby kept him there when he struck out Tyler Coleman. The biggest play of the inning came moments later when Braves catcher Jacob Cannon caught Mize straying too far away from third base. Cannon fired a perfect strike to third baseman William Shell, who put the tag on Mize before he could get back to the bag.
While Busby was able to escape that inning with the lead still intact, that was not the case in the top of the fifth. Flomaton's Jesse Ross reached on a dropped flyball and went to third on a pair of wild pitches. Ortiz walked and performed a successful double steal with Ross that sent him across the plate with the tying run.
Back-to-back walks to Danny Warrick and Conner Denton to start the bottom of the fifth proved costly for Ortiz. It also ended his night on the mound. Although Edwards got DeFrancisco to strike out, Cannon, Stephen Mathews and Becker Denton touched him for consecutive RBI hits. Cannon came through with an RBI single that put the Braves back up 32. Mathews followed with a two-run single, while Denton ripped an RBI double.