Saunders’ grand slam powers Nicholas past Pendleton

Aschten Saunders’ teammates wait at home plate to congratulate him after his bottom of the sixth-inning grand slam gave Nicholas County a 9-5 lead and all but assured the Bluejackets of a district-tournament victory over their Pendleton County rivals. Photo by Brad Laux/1016sports.

Nicholas County’s Isaac Fryman, below, was 2-for-3 at the plate for the Bluejackets in their district-tournament victory over Pendleton County. Fryman also drove in a pair of runs and scored in the team’s 9-5 opening-round win. Photo by Brad Laux/1016sports.

Aschten Saunders missed nearly all of Nicholas County’s regular season, but his reappearance in the lineup came at just the right time as the power-hitting sophomore’s bottom-of-the-sixth-inning grand slam gave the home standing Bluejackets a 9-5 victory over Pendleton County in the opening

round of the 38th District Tournament.

It was Nicholas County’s ninth win in the last 10 years in the tournament’s semifinals over their rivals.

“It’s neck-and-neck with Pendleton every year in the district tournament. It’s never an easy game,” Nicholas County head coach Travis Sims said. “When district tournament (time) comes, you know you’re going to get the best from both teams. It doesn’t really matter what happens in the (regular) season, because anything can happen in the post-season for sure when the two of us get together.”

Pendleton County (4-18) opened the door for Saunders’ heroic blast by intentionally walking the previous batter, Andrew Hawkins to load the bases with two outs.

“You might second-guess yourself when I put the guy on first (with an intentional walk), but the guy had hit the ball all night pretty decent,” said Pendleton County coach Chris Scott. “We were looking ahead to the seventh inning. You put him on, I think he was their number three or four guy, and you get the next guy out, and you come up with their seventh, eighth and ninth batters (for the last inning). That’s one of the keys that you look at.”

The calculated gamble did not pay off as Saunders blasted the ball over the fence in left field after falling behind in the count 0-2.

“The pitch was inside and high a little bit. It was a strike and I just swung at it,” Saunders said. “ I just ran to first and coach (Johnny) Wagoner told me it was gone, so I just went around second, third and then home.”

Pendleton County opened the game by scoring in the top of the first inning, but Nicholas County (14-13) responded with four runs in the bottom of the second. The Bluejackets drew three walks in a frame that included doubles by Hawkins and Morgan Planck, and a sacrifice fly by Isaac Fryman.

The Wildcats closed the gap with a pair of runs in the third inning and then tied the game in the fourth on Daniel Sander’s infield single.

The visitors took a short-lived lead after adding a run in the top of the sixth. AJ Smith and Austin Stull led off the inning with back-to-back hits, and two batters later, Cody Sullivan singled to right field to bring home Stull.

In the bottom of the seventh, Trent Letcher drew a one-out walk and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt. Things fell apart for the Wildcats after that as Fryman singled to score Letcher to tie the game. Spencer Morris followed with a walk and Hawkins was intentionally placed on first to load the bases, setting up Saunders’ game-winning blast.

“Things weren’t necessarily going our way. They were making plays and we just weren’t getting big hits when we needed them. Then we got a couple of guys on (base) in the sixth from the bottom of our lineup,” Sims said. “Tonight they walked Andrew, a little bit of respect for Andrew. He had two big hits and he’s hit the ball well all year. They didn’t want him to beat them. So Aschten, we missed him all year, and he just plugged in there and he battled and we competed, and he hit that big grand slam that put us over the top.”

The Bluejackets sealed the victory in the top of the seventh by retiring the side with winning pitcher Mercer Wills throwing back-to-back called strikeouts.

Wills earned the victory after three innings of relief work. He allowed just one unearned run on four hits, while striking out four. Hawkins started the game for Nicholas County and pitched three innings, surrendering four runs (three earned) and four hits. He struck out four, but walked six.

“I thought both of my pitchers threw well enough. They got out of some big jams. They left a lot of base runners,” Sims said. “I just tell our guys to compete and keep going. I never got down on them. We really didn’t do anything wrong. Andrew struggled a little bit early … I think he was a little bit nervous. It was his first year being out there as the starting pitcher in the district tournament and I think he had a little butterfly action in him. But, he did well and Mercer Wells came in and did a nice job in relief.”

Fryman led the hosts at the plate with a 2-for-3, two-RBI performance. Hawkins also went 2-for-3. Both players scored once. Saunders finished the day 2-for-4.

“I was really proud of our guys for the way they competed and hung in there throughout the game,” Sims said. “We kind of got a little bit of revenge from last year. (Pendleton County) hit a three-run homer on us in the sixth inning after we hit one in the first part of the sixth. (Then) they hit one in the bottom of the sixth and they got ahead of us 4-3 and beat us in the seventh.”

Smith, Stull and Sander recorded two hits apiece for the Wildcats. Sanders and Cody Sullivan each drove in a pair of runs.

Colton Ball was credited with the loss. He pitched three and two-thirds innings and gave up five runs on three hits. He also had one strikeout and one walk.

Harrison County went on to win the district title with a 10-0 five-inning victory over the Bluejackets in the championship game.

Saunders and Cameron Reid represented Nicholas County on the all-tournament team. Sander was Pendleton County’s selection.