Beverly/Lowell base-runner Dominic Fry is tagged out at home during a district tournament game against Cambridge/Belle Valley Friday. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

BEVERLY – What a difference 24 hours made for Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750 left-hander Easton Walker in the American Legion District Tournament at Fort Frye High School.

Walker got the start on the bump in Thursday’s elimination game against Zanesville and failed to retire any of the first four batters he faced leaving Bev/Low head coach Todd Engle no choice but to remove him.

Engle showed the confidence he has in Walker by giving him another shot in Friday night’s elimination game against Cambridge/Belle Valley and the young southpaw rose to the occasion in a major way by tossing a complete game six-hitter as Bevery/Lowell downed Cambridge/Belle Valley 4-1 to live to fight another day.

“He’s (Walker) been our leader all year in wins and losses and earned run average so we wanted to get him right back out there,” said Engle. “We know he can pitch and what a hell of an effort he gave us today.”

The first three innings were quite a pitcher’s duel between Walker and Post 84/641 starter Braden Williams.

Beverly/Lowell stranded a pair of base runners in each of the first three innings before finally breaking through to score three times in the bottom of the fourth inning to take the lead.

Second baseman Grady Hesson got things started for Bev/Low with a two-base hit with one-out in the inning and moved to third on a wild pitch.

Hesson scored when Williams was charged with a balk to give B/L a 1-0 lead.

After Jake McCurdy singled, lead-off batter Dominic Fry grounded into a fielder’s choice and Coleman Welsh drew a walk.

Kainan Bradford was the hero in the prior evening’s thrilling win over Zanesville when he slammed a game-winning three-run home run and the third baseman was at it again on Friday when he doubled into the gap in left center field to plate both runners to give Post 389/750 a 3-0 lead.

B/L added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth as Hesson smacked his second double of the game and came around to score on a single by Fry.

Walker took the mound in the seventh and quickly retired the first two batters he faced before losing his bid for a shutout on a double by second baseman Keaton Kyser and a base hit by Regan Rodgers.

Walker bounced back and got Jake Valentine to bounce a ball to shortstop Nate Silvus who flipped it to Hesson for a game-ending force out a second base.

The Beverly/Lowell lefty walked two and fanned six in his six innings of work giving Engle and his staff what they have come to expect from Walker in his first season with the Beverly/Lowell squad.

“Maybe it was a little bit of nerves last night pitching in front of a pretty good crowd but we wanted to get him right back out there to get rid of some of that bad karma,” said Engle. “We fielded the ball pretty well behind him and he gave us an incredible effort in a huge game.”

Williams was tagged with the loss despite fanning eight hitters in his four innings of work.

McCurdy, Bradford and Hesson collected two hits apiece for Bev/Low who will next take on Marietta Post 64 today at 1 p.m. in another elimination game.

“When you get this far nothing’s going to be easy and we didn’t think it was going to be easy,” said Engle, whose team improved to 24-13 with the win. “We are going to have to be a little bit better offensively because Marietta has been playing as well as anyone in the district.”