In a 14-4 win on Thursday in Middlesboro, the Yellow Jackets were able to hold the Bobcats to just five hits en route to winning the first of back-to-back matchups with one another.

Middlesboro accumulated 13 hits with 11 singles, one double and one triple. Three Yellow Jackets drove in multiple runs on Thursday as Braden Ausmus drove in two, Riley Gent drove in two and Stephen Justice drove in two.

“This has turned into a pretty big rivalry for us,” said Middlesboro coach John Smith. “We were motivated before the game got started and kept the intensity all the way through. I thought we ran the bases well and did a good job of putting the ball in play tonight. We just need to keep hitting the ball as well as we have been and keeping as much pressure on the opposition as we can.”

“We didn’t come to compete today,” said Bell County coach Scott Chaney. “I don’t know if we were intimidated by the name across their jerseys or what, but we jump out to a 1-0 lead and our team wasn’t even excited about it. We come in and can’t throw strikes, we can’t field balls, we can’t do this and we can’t do that — then they just put the game away. I don’t know if we were scared of them or what, but we are a lot better baseball team than what we showed today.”

Although the Yellow Jackets began to pull away in the third inning, it was the Bobcats who struck first. In his first at-bat of the game, Bell County senior Antonio Zachary gave the Bobcats an early 1-0 lead after delivering a solo home run in the first inning.

Middlesboro wasted no time in regaining control of the game. In his first at-bat, Ausmus delivered two RBI and was able to take first base when the throw from second to first took a bad hop and got away from Isaac Collett, giving the Yellow Jackets a 2-1 advantage.

Gent was able to add another run in the first inning for Middlesboro, driving in Ausmus on a single to increase the Jacket lead to 3-1 heading into the second inning.

Middlesboro added three more runs in the bottom of the third as Justice drove in two and Collier Elkins drove in another, extending the Yellow Jacket lead to 6-1.

After a double from Hayden Clark, two quick ground-outs and a fly-out forced the Bobcats back to the dugout as they failed to capitalize with a runner in scoring position.

Chris Callihan was called safe at home after a pitch from D.J. Estes bounced off Jacob Smith’s chest guard, extending the Yellow Jacket lead to 7-1.

Gent and Hagen Owens added another run each, as they both delivered RBI singles, giving Middlesboro a 9-1 advantage.

Gent was also able to steal home on a pitch that got away from Smith, further extending the Yellow Jacket lead to 10-1 heading into the fifth inning.

With the game beginning to get away, the Bobcats were able to come up with five hits in the top of the fifth inning, including RBIs from Alex Mayes, Smith and J.M. Baker, bringing Bell County to within six runs at 10-4.

After stealing home three times in the bottom of the fifth inning, Middlesboro extended their lead to 13-4, one shy of the run-rule.

After singles by Tyshawn Simpson and Callihan, Lane Perry was able to deliver an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to balloon the Middlesboro lead to 10 runs to end the game.

The Yellow Jackets were led by Ausmus, Gent and Justice with two RBI each. Elkins, Owens and Perry added one RBI each.

The Bobcat offense was led by Antonio Zachary with a home run, Mayes who added one RBI and Baker who added one RBI.

With the win, Middlesboro moved to 8-9 on the season. With the loss, Bell County moved to 6-9 on the season. The two teams were slated to play each other again on Friday.

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Middlesboro 303 44x — 14. 13. 4

Bell County 100 030 — 4. 5. 5

Justice, Harris (5) and Ausmus; Estes, Baker (4), Hoskins (5) and Smith. WP — Justice. LP — Estes