(Photography courtesy Tina Quesenberry)

Wytheville…Behind the pitching of their ace Dallas Beasley the Fort Chiswell Pioneers defeated their county rivals the Maroons of George Wythe 3-0. Beasley threw a seven-inning gem for the Pioneers as he threw a three-hitter. He struck out seven and walked none. He out-pitched George Wythe’s Josh Devine who lasted five innings giving up just one run on two hits. He walked two and had four strikeouts. Devine was relieved by Avery Mabe who tossed the last two innings giving up two runs on a one hit and struck out two. One of the runs was unearned.

Fort Chiswell (16-1) won their 11th consecutive game and the win makes them the Conference 46 Champions. Tanner Bailey and Aaron Crawford both had an RBI and a hit. Cody Burkes also had a hit in the win. Beasley saw his record improve to a 9-1 masterpiece on the mound.

George Wythe saw their record fall to 11-7. Dylan Anderson had two of the three Marooon hits off of Beasley.

The Pioneers scored one run in the third on a Bailey hit. They then crossed the plate twice in the top of the seventh, one on a throwing error and the other on Crawford’s single.

“I’m very proud of this team,“ said Fort Chiswell head coach Derrick Jackson. “Beasley pitched a marvelous game for us tonight as he has done for most of the season. Bailey and Crawlord came through for us in the clutch.” Coach then remarked, ”We lost a lot of real good players from last year’s State Semifinal team and this group has really performed. I think our team earn-run average is something like 0.60 for the year. I’m extremely pleased with this team.” With the victory the Pioneers will advance to the regionals no matter what happens in next week’s Conference 46 playoffs. Those conference playoff games will be held in Bastian, as the Bland Co. Bears are the host team.

The Pioneers will host the Bears of Bland Co. today with the first pitch scheduled for 5:00 pm.

R H E LOB

Fort Chiswell 3 3 1 5

Geo. Wythe 0 3 1 3

FC- WP- Beasley (9-1)

GW – LP- Devine