Tide outlugs Wave; Devils lose another late lead to Richlands

NARROWS –– Galax finished its regular season with a bang Tuesday, outscoring Narrows 18-14 in a Mountain Empire District slugfest.

The Green Wave (7-10 overall, 1-6 district) took an 11-6 lead with an eight-run outburst in the bottom of the third, but Galax rallied into a 14-11 lead by scoring seven in the top of the fifth on base hits by Zach Robinson, Jacob Woodel, Thomas Shaffer, Brock Cox, Todd Nichols, Morgan Holder plus a two-run Tyler Houk double.

Narrows tied the game with three runs in the bottom half of the inning, but a two-run error in the sixth gave Galax the lead for good. The Maroon Tide added two insurance runs in the seventh on an error and a Cox RBI double.

Eight of the nine Maroon Tide starters had at least two hits, including 3-for-4 performances by Shaffer and Woodel. Adding two hits each were Nichols, Houk, Holder, Robinson, Cox and Scott Alouf.

Galax outhit Narrows 19-12 but gave the Green Wave 16 baserunners on 11 walks and five hit batters.

Richlands 11, Grayson County 7 (8 innings)

The Blue Tornado won its 19th straight game without a loss Tuesday with a nondistrict victory at the GNB Baseball Complex.

Grayson County fell to 15-5 with the loss, the third time this year the Devils surrendered a late lead to Richlands. Grayson led 7-5 when RBI singles from Eric Stiltner and Taylor Sizemore in the top of the seventh tied the game at 7-7 for Richlands. The Blue Tornado got a two-run Chase Elswick single as part of a four-run eighth inning.

The Blue Devils led 4-1 in the first on two walks, a run-scoring error, two balks and RBI singles from Tyler Rutherford and Bo Pollard.

The lead grew to 7-1 in the second as the Tornado dropped two fly balls, leading to three unearned Grayson runs.

Jordan Barnette and Eric Stiltner each had three hits for Richlands. Adam Bedsaul and Jessup Lambert had three hits each for the Blue Devils.