By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser

Maplesville’s baseball team came away with a 14-4 win in a battle of the Red Devils on Monday as errors cost Verbena heavily in the latter innings of the contest.

Maplesville started quickly with one run in the top of the first inning, coming off a Brandon Abbott single that scored Damian Mitchell.

The bottom half of the first inning would see two Verbena base runners, but an infield ground ball brought the inning to a close and secured a 1-0 Maplesville lead.

A Nathan Bush double to right-center field scored Brett Walker in the top half of the second inning to make the Maplesville lead two runs.

The Bush brothers handled all of the scoring for Maplesville in the top of the third inning as Nathan added two more RBI to his tally for the game with a two-run single to left-center field, and Zach Bush added one more run with a shot to right-center field that would make the Maplesville lead five runs.

A leadoff double by Christian Agee led to a run-scoring double by Eric Mims to put Verbena on the board, but Maplesville continued to lead after three innings of play, 5-1.

Nathan Bush picked up his fourth RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Smitherman and made the score 6-1.

With Agee reaching on a walk and Quandarius Ray on a double, an Eric Mims double to center field plated one run for Verbena. Jared Mims followed with a two-run double to center field that cut the Maplesville lead to two runs.

With two on and no outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Maplesville made a pitching change and called on Zach Bush to take over on the mound.

A soft infield fly ball to Bush and throw to first base resulted in a double play, and one strikeout later, Bush and the Maplesville defense had brought an end to the Verbena rally.

An eight-run top of the sixth inning for Maplesville severely dampened hopes of a Verbena comeback, and with Zach Bush striking out three of four batters in the bottom of the sixth, those hopes were extinguished as the game was called after six innings of play due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Abbott got the start for Maplesville on the mound and pitched four innings while allowing two earned runs on four hits and one walk while striking out four batters.

Nathan Bush led at the plate, going 2-for-2 with a double and four RBI.

Agee handled the pitching through five innings for Verbena, surrendering seven earned runs on five hits and six walks while striking out two.

Mims led Verbena at the plate, going 2-for-2 with two doubles and two RBI.