A-Plus Collision Center hunts down Elks

A-Plus Collision Center (3-4) notched their second straight win on Tuesday night when they defeated a mistake prone Elks squad 9-1 in five innings at Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Field.

Aided by seven Elk errors, A-Plus Collision Center held a 4-1 lead through the first three and a half innings of play before crossing home plate five times in the bottom of the fourth to pull away for the eight-run victory.

A-Plus Collision Center starting pitcher Brooks Leftwich turned in a strong performance on the mound and racked up 10 strikeouts in five innings of work while yielding just one run on four hits and a walk en route to earning his second win of the season.

Elks starting hurler Chandler Harmon was unable to overcome the litany of mistakes by his defense and suffered the loss after allowing nine runs, only one earned, over four innings on six hits and a walk.

Brett McGehee, Logan Bailey, Dunn Crowder, Dallas Wright, Leftwich, and right fielder Ethan Evans tallied one hit apiece for A-Plus Collision Center with Crowder, Leftwich, and Evans each driving in one run.

"I was very proud of our team tonight. They came out ready to go and never let up," said A-Plus Collision Center coach Mike Bailey. "Brooks pitched really well and we got a few big hits. We've steadily been getting better and beat a good team tonight."

Harmon paced the Elks (3-5) at the plate by going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and a run scored, while Curt Taylor (1 RBI) and Wilson Limbaugh both had one hit.

Having lost to the Elks 10-4 in their previous meeting on May 22, A-Plus Collision Center took control of Tuesday's game early and pushed across three runs in the bottom of the first inning with the help of four errors to grab a 3-0 lead.

A-Plus Collision then left the bases loaded in the second inning, but plated a run in the third behind a single by Wright and an Evans RBI triple to open up a 4-0 advantage.

In the top of the fourth, the Elks trimmed the deficit to 4-1 on a RBI single by Taylor prior to loading the bases with one out thanks to a A-Plus Collision Center error and a walk by J.D. Crabtree.

A-Plus Collision Center, however, was able to minimize the damage, as Evans made a nice running catch on a line drive by Jamie Crowell in the right centerfield gap before Leftwich struck out the next Elks' batter to end the inning.

"Ethan made a huge catch for us. They had the bases loaded and probably would have scored two or three runs if he doesn't catch that ball. It was a game changing play," said Mike Bailey.

A-Plus Collision then delivered the knockout blow in the bottom of the fourth and tallied five runs in the frame on the strength of a walk by McGehee, three Elk errors, a Jody Sullivan RBI groundout, and a pair of RBI singles by Crowder and Leftwich to forge a 9-1 lead.

Leftwich kept the mercy rule in effect by retiring the Elks in order in the top of the fifth inning to clinch A-Plus Collision Center's third win of the year.