Williamstown starting pitcher Wyatt Powell struck out eight in a complete-game victory over Tyler Consolidated, Friday at William “Bill” Coiner Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

WILLIAMSTOWN — Tyler Consolidated made the adjustment at the plate. Didn’t matter.

Williamstown starting pitcher Wyatt Powell continued to pound the strike zone similar to his performance 10 days prior when he struck out 16 Silver Knight hitters.

TCHS limited the strikeouts to eight as Powell scattered seven hits in yet another complete-game win for the senior right-hander. Offensively, five players in the lineup contributed at least one hit as the Yellowjackets held on for a 6-3 win, Friday at William “Bill” Field, and improved to 6-4 with their fourth win in five games.

“(TCHS) was definitely sitting on my fastball,” said Powell, who set the tone by retiring the side in order in the top of the first inning on a mere four pitches. “The first time I saw them, I was just blowing it by them. They adjusted today and were hitting the ball pretty well, finding gaps when they needed to.

“I’ve seen the different side of teams adjusting, but I’m not going to give up until the pitch count takes me out.”

Williamstown baserunner Dylan Pucella dives back into first base as Tyler Consolidated’s Grady Shortridge takes the throw on a pickoff attempt during Friday’s game at William “Bill” Coiner Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Trailing 6-1 heading into the seventh inning, TCHS took Powell’s pitch count into a danger zone on a combination of events — Reese Davis’ two-run home run over the left field fence with one out followed later with two outs by Williamstown’s only error of the game and Ashton Morris’ single which brought the tying run to the plate.

Powell doused any TCHS hopes of a comeback by striking out the next batter on three straight pitches.

“We tried to be more aggressive at the plate tonight,” TCHS coach Robby Jones said after his club dropped to 4-6. “Against the Wyatt Powells of the world they like to get ahead early in counts. Pitchers like Wyatt and some of the other pitchers we’ve seen this year love the first pitch strike.

“So we want to be aggressive early in counts if we can and put the ball in play. And see if we can put pressure on them.”

Both sides started their fair share of freshmen. Williamstown coach Levi Maxwell liked what he saw not only from his underclassmen in the field but finally putting together clutch at-bats.

Tyler Consolidated freshman Ashton Morris lasted four innings in a 6-3 defeat to Williamstown, Friday at William “Bill” Coiner Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

No. 9 hitter Ben Raines set the tone with a two-out, two-run scoring double which put Williamstown in front 2-0 in the second inning.

In the very next inning, Noah Powell hit a sacrifice fly with runners on second and third base. Brayden Strcula stepped up to the plate next and delivered a two-run, run-scoring single to widen the gap to 4-0.

“Those guys actually were freshmen who made those big hits,” Maxwell said. “We have been trying to find that big hit with runners on base and we finally did it today.

“Today, we had four freshmen out in the field, so obviously there are some growing pains — a learning curve there. But again, they give us a chance to win every time they are out there.”

Williamstown tacked on a fifth run when Jackson Fulton scored from third base on an infield fly which was dropped with two outs – one of four errors committed by TCHS. For the game, Fulton scored three times and stole two bases.

Williamstown’s Tyler Keiser, left, is greeted at home plate by Colten Rinard after scoring a third-inning run during the Yellowjackets’ game against Tyler Consolidated, Friday at William “Bill” Coiner Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“We have 11 out of our 17 guys who are freshmen, so we are going through growing pains right now,” Jones said. “(Williamstown) is a young team over there, but they made the plays tonight on defense and we didn’t.

“Our two pitchers tonight were freshmen — they did a good job battling all night long. I thought they kept their hitters off balance a little bit.”

TCHS denied Williamstown in its quest of a shutout in the sixth inning. With runners on the corners and one out, the Silver Knights executed the hit-and-run as Sawyer Kunkel grounded out to shortstop — denying the Yellowjackets of a potential double play. Landon Boggs, who doubled earlier in the inning, trotted home from third base.

Williamstown answered with a single run in the home half of the sixth when another dropped pop up allowed Fulton to extend the gap to 6-1.

Three outs from securing the win, Powell struck out the first batter of the seventh inning.TCHS lead-off hitter Brayden Neff reached on a solid single and Davis followed with a no-doubter — a two-run homer which dented the margin to 6-3.

Tyler Consolidated baseball coach Robby Jones hold a team meeting outside the dugout during Friday’s game against Williamstown at William “Bill” Coiner Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“Reese is a buddy of mine — we play with each other, we got each other,” Powell said. “I just got to erase that and go to the next (batter). Didn’t locate that pitch. He got the best of that.”

TCHS sandwiched two baserunners around a pair of Powell strikeouts. Silver Knights starting pitcher Ashton Morris took the loss after surrendering five runs on five hits over four innings of work. Of the six runs allowed by TCHS pitching, two were unearned.

The Silver Knights now turn their attention to their annual baseball trip to Myrtle Beach over Spring Break.

“This is our fifth trip in a row to the Mingo Bay Classic — they call it the South Atlantic Bank Invitational now,” Jones said. “We play three teams from New York and another from North Carolina which has a couple of Division I prospects, so we are really looking forward to the opportunity to go down there and build some chemistry as a team and get these young guys some more quality experiences.

“The kids enjoy the trip, but it’s all business during the time we get to be on the field. These are some beautiful high school stadiums we get to play in. It’s just a great opportunity for the kids to be able to go down and enjoy themselves playing the game they love.”

Contact Kerry Patrick@newsandsentinel.com

Williamstown 6, Tyler Consolidated 3

WP: Wyatt Powell 7.0IP 7H 3R 3ER 4BB 8SO

LP: Ashton Morris 4.0IP 5H 5R 3ER 3BB 1SO

Grady Shortridge 2.0IP 1H 1R 1ER 3BB 1SO

Leading hitters

Tyler (4-6): Brayden Neff 2-4 run, SB; Reese Davis 1-2, run HR, 2 RBIs; Landon Boggs 1-4, run, 2B; Ashton Morris 1-3; Brennan Miller 1-2; Sawyer Kunkel 1-3

Williamstown (6-4): Jackson Fulton 1-3, 3 runs, 2 SBs; Wyatt Siley 2-3; Tyler Keiser run, 2 SBs; Noah Powell RBI; Brayden Strcula 1-3, run, RBI; Colten Rinard 2-3, run, SB; Ben Raines 1-3, RBI

Next game: Wahama at Williamstown (DH), Saturday