The shortened 2020 Marshall County Babe Ruth League season ended Friday night as did the baseball careers for many of the players in the final 16-18 year-old division contest.

According to many of his longtime teammates, Thomas J. Beardsley rarely brought a glove, bat, or equipment bag to a ballgame over the years, but on Friday night, Beardsley brought the only thing he needed….an ‘A’ game on the mound.

Mostly a designated hitter for the Marshall County High School Tigers baseball team, Beardsley took the ball for the finale and turned in a masterpiece performance on the bump, going the distance in his final game on the baseball diamond.

Beardsley went all five innings, giving up one hit and two runs (one earned) while striking out six and walking one Gamecock batter.

Chapel Hill’s Braden Bowyer came to the hill for an injured Bryson Hammons in the top of the second inning and the lefty dominated the remainder of the contest, tossing five shutout innings and striking out nine and walking three Beavers.

Hammons started on the hill for the Gamecocks and walked the first three batters he faced and the Beavers went on to plate two unearned runs on no hits.

Hammons ended up striking out the side.

Bryson Whaley and Tilden Jackson scored the unearned first inning runs for the Beavers.

Hammons came up to bat in the bottom of the inning with two outs and a runner on second base and as he swung on a grounder back to the mound, he was also hit on his right throwing hand and had to leave the game.

It was reported later that Hammons, the starting quarterback on the MCHS football team, did not have any broken bones in his hand after going to the hospital and getting an X-Ray.

The Gamecocks threatened in the bottom of the second inning as Logan Courtemanche singled up the middle with one out, but Jackson, Walker Whaley and Colton Barber turned a pretty 4-6-3 double play for the Beavers to squelch the threat.

Bowyer pitched a scoreless top of the third inning before the Gamecocks got on the board in the home half of the frame as Peyton Graves beat out a bunt and went to second base on the wild throw before scoring on a Preston Shelton RBI single to left field.

Bowyer whiffed three out of the four batters he faced in the top of the fourth inning and the Gamecocks took the lead in the home half of the stanza.

Carson Cheek started the one-out rally by walking and stealing second before scoring on an infield error off the bat of Courtemanche, tying the game at 2-2.

Courtemanche, who had gone to second base on the previous error, scored the go-ahead run when Bowyer grounded out and the subsequent throw to try to nail Courtemanche advancing to third went awry.

Bryson Whaley led off the visitor’s portion of the fifth inning with a single and stole second base, but Bowyer came up huge on the hill, striking out the next three Beavers’ batters in order to end the inning.

Beardsley tossed a solid bottom of the fifth inning and the Beavers mounted a comeback in the top of the sixth as Jake Singleton reached on a leadoff error and stole base before Beardsley walked to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Barber flied out to right field for the first out and Courtemanche made a great play on a foul ball off third base near the Gamecocks’ dugout for the second out.

Naomi Hopper came to the dish and battled with two strikes, fouling off several pitches before smoking a line drive that went straight to J.W. Beasley in center field for the final out of the season.

It was a great experience getting to watch this age group one last time thanks to the efforts of former Babe Ruth League president Ken Demastus in getting the six-week season off the ground, current president David Crane for overcoming all the obstacles related to COVID-19, and the one-man field crew of Stave Reese, who kept the diamond looking great the entire campaign.

Beavers 200 000-2 1 4

Gamecocks 001 20X-3 3 2

Beavers: Bryson Whaley 1-for-2.

BB: Hayden Duke 2, Bryson Whaley, Tilden Jackson, Walker Whaley, Thomas J. Beardsley.

RS: Bryson Whaley, Tilden Jackson.

ROE: Caleb McElhaney, Jake Singleton.

SB: Bryson Whaley 2, Walker Whaley, McElhaney, Singleton.

Team LOB: 7

Fielding

E: Jackson, Walker Whaley, McElhaney, Bryson Whaley.

DP: Walker Whaley, Jackson, Colton Barber.

LP: Thomas J Beardsley (5IP, 3H, 3R, 1ER, 6K, 1BB).

Gamecocks: Peyton Graves 1-for-3, Preston Shelton 1-for-3, Logan Courtemanche 1-for-2.

BB: Carson Cheek.

RS: Graves, Cheek, Logan Courtemanche.

RBI: Shelton.

ROE: Courtemanche, Graves, Shelton.

FC: JW Beasley, Braden Bowyer.

GIDP: Bowyer.

SB: Graves, Cheek.

Team LOB: 3

Fielding

E: Graves, Logan McKnight.

WP: Braden Bowyer (5IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 9K, 3BB).

Starting Pitcher: Bryson Hammons (1IP, 0H, 2R, 0ER, 3K, 3BB).