COVINGTON, Ga. — The Eastside Eagles baseball team ended senior night in the win column Thursday with an 11-1 rout of the Heritage Patriots.
Colton Fincher, who was one of the seniors celebrated prior to first pitch, had himself a night against Eastside’s Region 8-AAAAA foe.
Fincher went 2-for-3 with five RBIs on the day, but the bottom of the fourth frame is where the senior had his best plate appearance.
After Braydon Ellis and Blake Hughes reached base, Fincher took a pitch opposite field and over the right field wall for the three-run home run.
Fincher’s opposite field blast gave the Eagles a 7-1 lead in the fourth inning. Following the game, Eastside head coach Cody Walker spoke about Fincher’s recent stretch and what the senior has been doing right in the box.
“I think in his past 17 at bats, he is about 12-for-17 prior to the last one,” Walker said. “I think he has had one ball that he has pulled for a hit. Everything else, he is working oppo and hitting home runs oppo. Working inside-out seems to work wonders for him and his bat speed is just so quick that it is paying dividends for him.”
The Eagles got the scoring started in the opening frame.
Isaiah Biggers led off the first with a double before Fincher later scored him on a single to left field.
The Patriots tied the game in the third inning with their lone run of the contest.
With two runners in scoring position, a passed ball allowed Jacob Roman-Pascual to score from third and tie the game 1-1.
However, Eatside answered immediately and never looked back.
A run-scoring sacrifice fly from Fincher gave the Eagles the 2-1 advantage. Then, Landon Black hit an infield single that scored two runs after a mishap from Heritage’s fielders.
Black’s RBI knock gave the Eagles a 4-1 lead.
After Fincher’s three-run home run in the fourth, Eastside added on three more runs in the fifth inning.
Following the leadoff man reaching to open the frame, Clayton Black delivered the RBI single into center field to extend the lead to 8-1. In the next at-bat, Braydon Smith doubled into center field to score Clayton to add another run.
Just before the final out of the inning was recorded, Smith scored from third on a groundout to give Eastside a 10-1 lead going into the sixth.
Dawson Petree came through with an RBI single following a one-two-three inning on the mound for the Eagles. Petree’s RBI sealed Eastside’s 11-1 win via run-rule.
Biggers started the game on the mound for the Eagles.
In five innings of work, Biggers allowed three hits while striking out six batters and allowing zero earned runs.
With it being Biggers’ first real action on the mound in a long time, Walker was impressed with what he saw from the right-hander.
“He [Isaiah] has been hurt the past two years. This is really his first full game that he has gotten,” Walker said. “He threw an inning a couple weeks ago, but this is the first time he has gone out there and thrown an extended amount of innings. We saw what we liked, so if he can stay consistent with it, he is going to be a big piece for us in the future. It was great to see.”
Fincher, Ellis, Petree and Black came away with two hits apiece in the contest.
The win for the Eagles is their seventh in their last 10 outings. Eastside sits at 9-9 overall with a 4-3 record in Region 8-AAAAA play.
The Eagles will go on the road to play the Patriots Monday, March 25.
