Enterprise and West Lincoln baseball fans witnessed a great pitchers’ duel Tuesday night as the two undefeated teams in Region 7-2A battle for first place.

In an eight inning defensive marathon, the Enterprise Yellow Jackets managed to hand the West Lincoln Bears their first loss in region action as Enterprise catcher Max Miller cashed in the game winning single, with a hard shot up the middle, to score Josh Hardin from third to help the Jackets edge the Bears 3-2 in an epic thriller.

“Both pitchers pitched a great game,” said Enterprise coach Cass Brister. “This was a dog fight until the very end. We were very lucky to come out on top.

“West Lincoln has a very good team,” continued Brister. “Steve Barrington is doing a good job coaching his West Lincoln team and he will have them ready to play Friday. Overall, this was a good win, but we need to regroup and get ready for another tough battle this Friday.”

The Jackets (9-6, 7-0) will travel across Lincoln County Friday to take on the Bears (14-3, 6-1) for Round Two of the divisional series at West Lincoln. Junior varsity action starts at 5 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 7 p.m.

Enterprise 3, West Lincoln 2 

The Jackets quickly set the tone of the game by scoring two runs on West Lincoln in the first inning, but the Bears regroup after that slow start to shut down the Jackets by holding Enterprise scoreless through out the rest of the contest.

West Lincoln managed to break up Enterprise’s bid for a shut out in the fourth inning as the Bears pushed across one run and tied the game at 2-all in the top of the sixth inning.

In the top of the seventh and eight innings, West Lincoln threatened to capture their first lead of the game, but Enterprise relied on their strong defense and pitching to get out of the jam.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Enterprise fought hard at the plate to make something happen on offensive against West Lincoln. With one out, the Jacket’s DH Josh Hardin managed to provide that spark they needed as he was first batter to hit the pitch for the game.

With two outs and two bad throws, Hardin advanced to third. Miller battling hard at the plate with a 2-2 count managed to come through in the end with a game winning single.

Jackson Cole was the winning pitcher as he went the distance collecting 14 strikeouts and allowed only four walks.

Brady Wilson suffered the setback for West Lincoln as he went the distance as well collecting 12 strikeouts and walked two batters.

“This was a good pitched game by both starting pitchers,” said West Lincoln coach Steve Barrington. “It really came down to making that one play that you are suppose to make. Now we must refocus and get ready for a big game on Friday night when they come to West Lincoln.”

Hardin was the top hitter for Enterprise with two singles. Hitting safely were Austin Fuller, Lane Boyd, Hunter Richardson and Miller.

West Lincoln was lead at the plate with a single from Tanner Boutwell, Bryce Temple, Tyler Moak, Alex Neal, Jeremy Burns and Ty Forman.