The offensive ills that hindered the Bryant Black Sox in the Mid-South Regional, though obviously they overcame, followed them in their first game of the American Legion World Series Thursday at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, North Carolina. For the first time all season, the Black Sox were shut out, falling 4-0 to Lewiston, Idaho, in the opening round.
Lewiston scored three of its four runs in the sixth inning as it was a scoreless game through five. But even though Bryant did have eight hits and had runners on all day, the Black Sox couldn’t cash in any runs.
“We just left a lot of people stranded and couldn’t come up with a big hit,” Black Sox Coach Darren Hurt said.
Idaho pitcher Julian Washburn pitched the complete-game shutout giving up the eight hits and three walks, and struck out just one in nine innings as Lewiston didn’t commit an error in the game.
“He’s a good pitcher,” Hurt said of Washburn. “He threw it well, but we left the bases loaded one inning, first and third an inning, we left first and second. We had hits, yet no runs. That’s not good. We couldn’t get the big two-out hit.”