BENHAM — Pitching, defense and timely hitting have been keys to baseball success for well over a century.
The Harlan All Stars made that winning combination work for them Friday in a first-round game in the District 4 Tournament East (ages 11-12) as they coasted to an 8-2 win over Knox County.
Cian Garland handled the pitching as he gave up only four hits and two runs over five-plus innings with eight strikeouts and one walk. Bentley Colinger struck out one, walked one and allowed one inherited base runner to score as he recorded the final three outs when Garland reached the pitch limit.
Garland and Colinger received great defensive support with an error-free game. Second baseman Maddox Helton had the web gem of the evening when he flagged down a hard ground ball in short right field and threw out the Knox runner.
The Harlan offense produced from one through 10 in the order with 11 hits, led by three singles from Colinger out of the last spot in the lineup. Waylon Taylor added a double and single from the nine spot. Garland singled twice. Maddox Landa added a double. Landon Spurlock, Easton Halcomb and Lakin Smith had one single each.
“Cian was on fire. He shut them down,” Harlan All Stars coach Verlin Halcomb said. “Everything they hit was going to right, and Waylon played well out there. Maddox was solid at second, and he can play anywhere. We hit the ball one through 10. I’m very happy with all of them.”
Harlan grabbed an early lead with three runs in the second inning. Smith and Isaac Combs drew walks before an RBI double from Taylor and an RBI single from Colinger that produced the final run of the inning on an errant throw to third.
Harlan added four more runs in the fourth inning that began with singles from Taylor and Colinger. Spurlock’s ground out brought in one run, then Landa doubled home two runs before Garland singled home another.
Combs walked in the fifth inning and scored the final Harlan run on Taylor’s ground ball that turned into an error.
Jacob Mills led Knox County with two singles. John Miles had a double. Tripp Taylor and Carter Smith added one single each.
Harlan will play the Hazard/Perry vs Middlesboro/Pineville/Bell winner on Sunday at 5 p.m. for the east division title.
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Knox County 000 101 — 2. 5. 2
Harlan 030 41x — 8 11 0
Butler, Greene (2), Greggs (4), Thompson (5), Mills (5) and Taylor; Garland, Colinger (6) and Combs. WP — Garland (1-0). LP — Butler (0-1).
