MARION -- Valley View exploded for 6 runs in the first inning, 3 more in the third and added 5 in the seventh to pull away for a 14-2 victory over Marion on Tuesday at First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas Stadium.
The Blazers pounded out 15 hits, including two apiece from Owen Roach, Dax Webb, Drew Gartman, Hudson Hosman and Jayde Taylor. Webb drove in a pair of runs, while Hosman drove in four.
Blazer starter Eli Crecelius made the run support count by working 6 innings of 1-hit ball, surrendering 1 run, striking out nine and issuing 2 walks.
The first eight Blazers reached base in the top of the first, including five hits. Slade Caldwell walked and scored on a Roach single for a 1-0 lead two batters into the game. A Webb triple scored Roach and a Hosman double drove in Keaton Mathis and Gartman for a 4-0 lead. Taylor capped the first-inning scoring when he doubled to drive in Hosman as the visitors led 6-0 after a half inning.
Marion got a run back in the home half of the first when starting pitcher Davis York singled and scored to get the Patriots within 6-1.
That tally held until the top of the third when the first four Blazers reached base. Valley View went on to score three times no Marion errors.
Gartman scored on a wild pitch and Hosman and Taylor came around on a two-base error as the visitors claimed a 9-1 lead.
But the Marion bullpen held down the fort from there, as Brody Byrd, Coleman Barnett and Myles Holt worked scoreless innings until the seventh.
Caldwell and Roach walked with one out in the seventh, and Webb drove in both of them with a double. Gartman drove in Webb with a double for a 13-1 advantage. Hosman capped the Valley View scoring with a two-run home run to left field.
York hit a long home run in the bottom half of the seventh to round out Marion's scoring.