Marshall County Tribune: Community Sports: Elks run over A-Plus (06/22/11)

Elks center fielder Bubba Houghton is all smiles in the dugout after belting a three-run homer in the first inning in a 10-0 win Thursday night over A-Plus Collision Center. Tribune photos by Anthony S. Puca

Elks starting pitcher Jacob Graves surrendered a leadoff single to Grayson Wiles and then proceeded to shut down A-Plus Collision Center the rest of his stint on the mound as the undefeated orange clad squad went on to win 10-0 in four innings in Thursday night's nightcap at Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Field in Lewisburg.

The offensive hero once again for the Elks was Bubba Houghton, who bashed a three-run homerun in the bottom of the first inning, supplying all the runs his team would need on the evening.

Houghton's homer was only the second dinger of the year this season in Babe Ruth play.

Wiles hit the other one earlier in the season.

(Aaron Medley and Jay Murphy both homered Monday night)

It was the tenth win of the season for the Elks, who clinched the league title last week.

A-Plus second baseman Jody Sullivan (5) rips a ball to right that was snagged by Elks second baseman Wilson Limbaugh on a nice running catch.

Graves struck out five A-Plus batters and issued zero walks before giving way to Aaron Hobbs, who closed out the ballgame in the fourth inning.

Hobbs also had a nice game at the dish for the Elks, going 2-3 with three runs scored and an RBI.

Hobbs led off the home half of the first, legging out an infield single, and one batter later, Matt Calendar singled to center to make it first and third.

A-Plus starter Brooks Leftwich got out number two on a pop-up before Houghton drilled his long dinger over the center field fence.

Graves faced just four batters in the second inning and the Elks tacked on three more runs in the home half of the frame, mostly due to four errors by A-Plus.

1-2-3 went A-Plus in the top of the third before the Elks got to the magic number ten for the possible run-rule victory in the bottom of the inning as they scored four times.

The big blow was a two-run double by Graves with two outs that scored Hobbs and Wilson Limbaugh.

Hobbs came to the hill in the bottom of the fourth and walked Aaron Medley to leadoff the frame.

Hobbs settled in with a fly out and a strikeout for two outs before Medley was erased trying to steal third to end the game.

Graves, Calendar, Jacob Griffis, Houghton, and Kurt Taylor all notched one hit apiece for the Elks.