Beech blanks Bears 2-0, takes 9-AAA No. 2 seed

MT. JULIET — Beech will host half of the District 9-AAA tournament after beating Mt. Juliet 2-0 Tuesday night in the regular-season finale.
Two Buccaneer pitchers combined to hold Mt. Juliet to six hits while striking out 11 Golden Bears as Beech clinched the No. 2 seed with a 10-2 district record and 26-5 overall mark.
Beech will host Wilson Central on Friday after Mt. Juliet, which finished 9-3 in the league, brings a 29-10 record into a first-round game against LaVergne at Beech. Game times are expected to be set today.
The other half of the tournament will be played at top-seed Smyrna, which will host the one-game championship against the winner of the Beech bracket. The individual brackets are double elimination.
Josh Cotham was the hard-luck loser for the Bears, allowing five hits and a walk while whiffing 11.
Ben Crocker's RBI double put Beech ahead in the second inning. The other run came home on a seventh-inning throwing error.
Tyler Carr and Taylor Hill had two singles each and Caleb Knox and Dustin Murphy one apiece for the Bears, who left eight runners in scoring position.
"We didn't get the hit when we needed it," Mt. Juliet coach Mark Purvis said.

Mitchell's first-inning slam back's Pryor's pitching in Commander conquest
Wade Mitchell's first-inning grand slam gave Stephen Pryor all the runs he would need in a 6-0 shutout of visiting Gordonsville on Tuesday.
Lee Maasen hit an RBI single and G.L. Waynick a run-scoring groundout in the second.
Pryor took over after that, allowing the Tigers two singles and four walks while striking out 13 as the Commanders climbed to 21-11 for the season and a final 12-0 in District 8-A. Friendship will finish its regular season today when Macon County comes in for a 3:45 p.m. first pitch.
The Commanders collected 10 hits, including a 3-for-3 outing by Jon Miller, who doubled. Bryant Alsup tripled and scored while Waynick and Brian Cravens doubled. Maasen managed two hits.