Braves take care of business

Published 12:02 am Friday, June 20, 2014

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. — The Advance Sports Braves 11-and-under summer league baseball team took care of the Buford (Ga.) Wolves 11-1 in four innings Thursday morning in an elimination game at the Grand Slam World Series.

Winning pitcher Peyton Fort and Caleb Smith combined to pitch a no-hitter. Fort went the first three innings and struck out nine batters with just one walk. Smith came in to pitch the fourth inning and needed just six pitches to get the final three outs.

“They were both dominating on the mound,” Braves head coach Shaun McDonald said.

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“Defense didn’t have much work today. They didn’t have any balls hit.”

The Braves had three multiple hitters and five players with at least one run batted in. Fort as well as Alec Sparks went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBI; Matt Petty was 2-for-2 with one RBI; Dylan Laprairie went 1-for-1 with one RBI; and Rhet McDonald was 1-for-2 with one RBI.

“They played very well. We got off to a slow start in the first inning. After that, they came out hitting the ball,” coach McDonald said. “I thought our bats were better today. I shifted the lineup to accommodate the power hitters.”

The Braves will play the ninth-seeded Hill Country Hurricanes today at noon.