Brandon Willingham struck out a school-record 17 batters Wednesday in Boyd-Buchanan's 7-1 win over visiting Copper Basin. Willingham threw a three-hitter in the victory.
photo by Contributed
Boyd-Buchanan’s Brandon Willingham threw a three-hit, complete-game gem and set a school record with 17 strikeouts in the Bucs’ 7-1 victory over Copper Basin on Wednesday.
Willingham, a sophomore, improved his record to 6-0 on the season while the Bucs went to 14-9 overall and 5-0 in District 5-A. Willingham threw 101 pitches with 73 strikes in dominating the Cougars.
Willingham struck out the final five Cougars to finish off the victory.
Boyd-Buchanan gave Willingham the only offense he would need with five runs in the first three innings.
Nathan Murrell’s first-inning groundout scored Jim Cardwell, who walked, stole second and moved to third on Cade Evans’ sacrifice. Cardwell doubled home two runs in the second and Hunter Payne’s double pushed two runs across in the third for a 5-0 cushion.
The second game of the series will be played on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Copperhill. The Bucs start play in the Lookout Valley Invitational at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com)