BARBOURVILLE — It was bound to happen sooner or later. The Middlesboro Yellow Jackets are the 13th Region All “A” champions for the first time ever.

The Jackets had little trouble making their run through the tourney in 2009. In the first round they defeated Pineville 13-0 in five innigs, in the semifinals they rolled to a 16-1 victory at Williamsburg in six and Friday they pounded Barbourville 17-2 in the championship game.

“It’s something that’s long overdue,” coach Bill Powell said of finally winning the All “A.”

“We’re glad to win this, it certainly is a goal for us and we hope we can go on and get to Applebee’s. We’d like to win the region twice and get to Applebee’s twice and that’s what we’re striving for.”

The Jackets hit the ball hard from the start. Jake Partin and Scott Mason opened the game with back-to-back doubles to make it 1-0 just three pitches in.

Mason stole third and then socred on a sacrifice fly to deep center by Evan Womack. Hunter Adams followed with a solo home run to left center to make it 3-0.

Matt Cox would single with two outs and Kendall Ferguson walked. They would both steal bases and Cox scored on a passed ball while Ferguson later scored on a balk to make it 5-0.

The Jackets added a run in the second as Womack singled with one out and stole second and third. He later scored on a sarifice fly by Josh Branham.

Barbourville pushed across a run in the second to make it 6-1. But it could have been worse. With teh bases loaded Garrett Clark singled to the wall in left to score a run. Middlesboro left fielder Eddie Gilbert picked up the ball quickly and got it in to shortstop Holdem Moyers who relayed the ball home in plenty of time for Branham to tag out Ben Stuber as he tried to score from second.

Middlesboro put the game out of reach with five runs in the third and six in the fourth.

“The bats have really picked up and we’re playing with a lot of confidence right now and I’m excited about it,” Powell said. “But the schedule really picks up in the next week.”

Partin doubled, tripled and reached on an error, scored three runs and drove in two. Adams had the home run and added a sacrifice fly for another RBI.

Womack singled twice and walked as he drove in three runs, scored two and stole three bases. Mason doubled, walked twice and scored three runs with an RBI. Ferguson had two hits to go along with the walk and scored three times.

Moyers had a two-run single and a walk, stole three bases and scored a run. Branham had a sacrifice fly and an RBI ground out. Cox had the single, stolen base and run scored. And Eddie Gilbert had a hit, walked twice and scored two runs.

Cox was the winning pitcher for the Jackets. He pitched all five innings and allowed two runs, one earned on three hits. He struck out eight, walked five and hit a batter.

Middlesboro (8-2) will play at Bell County on Monday, then host the Bobcats Tuesday.

They’ll host 16th Region All “A” champ Raceland (7-6) in the All “A” sectional one day next week, but that game has yet to be scheduled.

“Bell County is loaded and we’ll have to play our best game just to compete with them,” Powell said. “Raceland is an outstanding team that has lost several close game with some of the top teams in the state, so it’s going to take everything we’ve got.”

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Middlesboro 515 60 — 17 11 2

Barbourville 010 10 — 2 3 1

Cox and Branham; Banfield, Vaughn (1), Hildebrand (4) and Tye. W — Cox. L— Vaughn. HR — M: Adams (3).