Baylor Varner was back to his dominant self after struggling with command in his first outing of the season Monday in a win at Leslie County that included nine walks. Varner had no such problems Saturday as he struck out 12 and walked only one and alowed only three hits over five shutout innings as the Dragons coasted to a 6-3 win Saturday at Lee, Va.
“Baylor had a dominant performance for us on the mound. He made a behind the back catch on a line-drive that is as good as any play I’ve seen in high school baseball,” Harlan coach Lee Freyer said. “All of his pitches were working today. When he is dialed in like that, he’s really difficult to hit.”
Eli Freyer led the Harlan offense with a double and single. Brody Owens singled twice. Luke Luttrell had a double. Jared Moore added a single.
“Eli is really seeing the ball well right now. With guys on base, he’s been really good. He worked hard this offseason getting stronger. It showed today,” Freyer said. “You want your three and four hole hitters to drive those runners in, and they did that today.”
Owens gave up one earned run and two unearned runs over two innings, striking out four and walking none.
“Brody came in and pitched with a lead. He filled the zone up, and that’s what you want there. He did a good job coming in and closing the game out. We still have some things to clean up, but I’m proud of the effort and energy our guys brought today,” Freyer said.
Harlan scored twice in the second inning and three times in the second to take control early. The Dragons added one more run in fourth before Lee closed the scoring with three runs in the sixth.
“It as a good team win today. We were sharp early and jumped out to a big lead,” Freyer said. “I’d like to see a little bit more of a killer instinct, and that’s something we need to improve on. I was pleased with our situational hitting. We’ve talked a lot about putting the ball in play with runners on and doing a job. We have to move runners over. We executed better moving guys today.”
The 2-1 Dragons play host to Pineville on Monday.
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Harlan 023 100 0 — 6. 7. 1
Lee,Va. 000 003 0 — 3. 5 0
Varner, Owens and Owens, Shelton (6); Robbins, Leonard (4) and Mullins. WP — Varner (1-0). LP — Robbins.