Highlanders wallop Wharton

The McLennan Highlanders defeated the Wharton Pioneers 13-4 on the road with Coleman Beazley picking up the win on the mound.

Wharton took the lead with a run in the bottom of the first as Enrique Sanchez was safe at first on an error, moved to second on a single by Rene Pineda and came around to score on another Highlander error.

McLennan took the lead with six runs in the fourth. Cory Voss doubled and Brendan Venter singled. Tucker Johnson followed with a double to score Voss and Venter. Noah McGowan and Nic Motley were both hit by a pitch. Mario Vela then singled to score Johnson and McGowan. Joe Breaux followed with a single to score Motley and Vela.

The Pioneers added three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Pineda and Dallas Stefano drew back-to-back walks. Pineda came in to score on a wild pitch and Stefano scored on a ground out by Tyler Kimball. Jared Lira also drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Clay Kresta then singled to score Lira.

The Highlanders added two runs in the fifth. Venter led off with a solo home run. Johnson then singled and moved to second on a single by Dimas Ojeda. McGowan was hit by the pitch to load the bases. Johnson then came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Motley.

McLennan rounded out the scoring with five runs in the seventh. Griffin Williams was hit by the pitch to lead off the inning and Ojeda followed with a home run. McGowan and Motley drew back-to-back walks. Vela then doubled to score McGowan. Motley and Vela both came in to score on a Wharton error.

"Another good road win; our bullpen was really good. I'm very proud of both Beazley and Mark Doerries. They did a really nice job for the last five innings of the ballgame, basically just shutting Wharton down and giving us opportunities to continue to score and open the game up," head coach Mitch Thompson said.

"Offensively, we had some guys really do a nice job. Ojeda stands out with the home run to the opposite field. He really crushed that pitch and it was fun to watch that from Dimas."

McLennan 000 620 500 – 13 11 2
Wharton 100 300 000 – 4 6 2
Chris Glover, Coleman Beazley (4) Mark Doerries and Cory Voss, Nic Motley (7).
Garrett Park, Gilbert Trevino (3), Ian Nash (4), Zach Sotelo (4), Joseph Baltrip (5), Lorenzo Lira (7), Rene Pineda (8) and Brandon Upton. WP: Beazley; LP: Nash. Leading hitters – McLennan: Joe Breaux (1-3, 2 RBI), Cory Voss (1-4, 2B), Brendan Venter (2-5, HR, RBI), Tucker Johnson (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI), Dimas Ojeda (2-4, HR, 2 RBI), Nic Motley (0-2, RBI) and Mario Vela (2-5, 2B, 3 RBI); Wharton: Tyler Kimball (1-4, RBI) and Clay Kresta (1-4, RBI). Record: McLennan 17-2.