Baseball: Van Buren blasts away at Pekin

PACKWOOD ? Wednesday afternoon was one final tune up for second-ranked Van Buren heading into district play and Pekin was the victim.

The Warriors (24-1) belted five home runs, racked up 13 hits in 26 at-bats and won an 18-0 game in four innings to conclude the regular season. Van Buren?s lone loss came against then-top-ranked Davis County way back on May 28.

Blake Scott and Court Garrett each hit two dingers, and starting pitcher Jory Heckenberg added one more and left the yard for the third straight game. Scott finished 3-4 with a double, the two homers and eight RBI. Ty Smith went 2-3 and added two extra-base hits.

Heckenberg threw two innings of one-hit ball before being relieved by Court Garrett.

Bailey Donovan and Tyson Lamb combined for the three Panther hits.

Pekin (11-19) will play its regular-season finale tonight at home against Harmony before playing Mid-Prairie in district tournament action Saturday at Eddyville.

Van Buren will open Class 2A district play Saturday against West Burlington at Central Lee. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.