Burns bats too much for Black Hawks as Bulldogs reach regional finals

May 24--WEAVERVILLE -- The Burns High baseball team didn't waste any time making an impression in its 3A fourth-round playoff game at North Buncombe on Friday.

The Bulldogs loaded the bases in each of the first two innings, and though they only scored run out of those opportunities, the tone was set in a 5-1 victory that punched their ticket to next week's 3A West regional final series against the Piedmont, a 4-0 winner against Carson.

Burns begins the best-of-three regional series at home, with the opener tentatively set for 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The Bulldogs (23-4) finished with nine hits for single runs in the first, third and fourth before getting a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh.

"We competed at the plate all day," Burns coach David Wise said.

Walks for Jay Seagle and Brandon Alexander with a single by Christopher Proctor in between loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first. Bradley Evans drew an RBI walk before Black Hawk starting pitcher Carson Jones struck out the next three batters.

Highlighted by walks for Alex Murray and Seagle and a Proctor single, Burns loaded the bases again with one out in the second before coming up empty after a fly ball and a fielder's choice.

Caleb Burnham singled to lead off the top of the third, took second on an error, moved to third on a Dillon Daves fly ball to center field and scored on a Murray single for a 2-0 edge.

A Proctor double and an Evans RBI double in the top of the fourth pushed it to 3-0.

North Buncombe'sCarson Jones reached on an error and eventually came around on a Michael Ponder fielder's choice in the bottom of the fourth to cut it to 3-1.

The Black Hawks (25-4) had two runners on base in the bottom of the sixth when Burns reliever Alec Bivins' wild pitch ended with Bulldog catcher Christopher Proctor tagging out Ryan Rickey, who tried to score from second. Bivins then ended the inning with a strikeout.

"I knew what I had to do," Bivins said. "I had to come in and work hard and get the batters out."

Burns extended its lead in the top of the seventh with a trio of two-out singles, the first two coming from Bivins and Daves. Then Scooter Colburn's two-run single back up the middle in his only at-bat made it 5-1.

Bivins worked 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for the save, striking out two and allowing no walks and no hits. Burnham threw the first 5 1/3 innings to pick up the win, striking out seven with one walk and an unearned run allowed.

The Burns duo combined for a two-hitter.

Jones took the loss. He went the first 3 1/3 innings with four strikeouts, six walks and three runs (two earned) allowed on five hits. Beau Morgan tossed the final 3 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits and no walks with five strikeouts.

Proctor had three hits and a run scored for the Bulldogs.

Alex Destino and Nolan Lisenbee had the only hits for North Buncombe.

Now, Burns heads into the regional final series.

"We work hard day to day all year," Colburn said. "And we came out and played like this. It's a real honor."

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