PARIS — A pair of RBIs certainly helped alleviate Rodney Bean’s pain after he slammed into and flipped over Franklin first baseman Corey Rogers in the fourth inning of an American League baseball game.
Bean sacrificed life and limb when he drilled an infield sacrifice that brought home two much-needed runs in the fourth inning and allowed Bessey Motors (1-1) to shake off the Flyers (1-3) with a 3-0 win at the Don Gouin Athletic Conference on a warm Thursday afternoon.
“Running into the first baseman didn’t feel very good,” Bean, a second baseman, said. “But the two RBIs felt good.
“I felt we played well. Defensively, we were pretty good. I think we could have hit the ball better, but we came through in that inning and started to get more hits.”
Bessey hammered out four of its seven hits in that decisive fourth inning.
Franklin pitcher Miles Pelletier was as stubborn as Bessey winning pitcher Colton Carson, who threw a one-hit shutout. For three innings, both pitchers were involved in a duel that stifled each other’s offense.
Carson received the win after getting himself out of a couple of jams in the fourth and fifth innings. He put the kibosh on the Flyers with third-out strikeouts in each predicament. Carson struck out nine batters in six innings of pitching before relief pitcher Blake Slicer set down the side in order in the seventh inning.
“He got out of jams when he needed to,” Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer said. “I thought he kept the ball low for the most part. His pitch count was in the low 100s so I thought it was time to make a change. We have a long season ahead of us.”
It took the fourth inning for Bessey Motors to get around Pelletier and put three runs on the board.
Bessey left fielder Hunter Labossiere got things started with a hit and eventually came home on first baseman Ashton Kennison’s single to break the deadlock. Designated hitter Troy Johnson followed with another single and Trent Spaulding came into pinch hit for Johnson.
Bean brought home Kennison and Spaulding with an infield sacrifice after Bean crashed into Rogers. That gave him a pair of an RBIs despite the unpleasantness of running into Rogers.
“Huge,” Slicer said of Bean’s sacrifice. “He has had a back injury all spring. He has been DH for all spring long. Played here and there and is a great teammate so it was nice to see him gets some at-bats and hits — a good baseball player.”
But the Flyers did have their chances in the fourth and fifth innings when they loaded the bases on errors and walks, but the unflinching Carson kept his cool and extricated himself from each jam. Franklin stranded eight runners on base and twice loaded the bases.
“He (Carson) is a good pitcher. He pitched his way out of trouble,” Franklin coach Kyle Gunzinger said “They are fantastic in the field. They make very few errors. We struggled to hit the baseball.
“He’s (Pelletier) a tough kid. A farmer, he’ll bear down and go after it. A classic farmer.”
Bessey Motors’ first baseman Ashton Kennison catches a foul ball in an American Legion baseball game at Don Gouin Athletic Complex in Paris on Thursday afternoon.
Franklin pitcher Miles Pelletier underhands the ball to first baseman Corey Rogers for the out in an American Legion baseball against Bessey Motors at Don Gouin Athletic Complex in Paris on Thursday afternoon.
Franklin second baseman Ryan Pratt waits for the ball as Bessey Motors’ Parker LaFrance slides safely into second base during an American Legion baseball game in Paris on Thursday.
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