For the Northside Eagles…. it was tough sledding in their home doubleheader against region foe Tift Co as the Blue Devils shutout the Eagles 10-0 in five in game one & 12-0 in five in game two. Tift Co set the tone quickly in the top half of the first in game one with four runs that included a J Dorman two run home run.
The Blue Devils had one run in the second, three in the third, & one in the fourth & fifth innings in game one & their first nine runs all came with two outs on the board. R. Whitley & L. Parrish each had five strikeouts in their duties on the mound for Tift Co while Kenyon Walker of Northside pitched 2 1/3rd innings & gave up eight runs (six earned) walked three, & struck out one.
Game two was more the same in terms of offense as all runs came from the Blue Devils as they had no runs in the first, three in the second, one in the third, seven in the fourth, & one in the fifth. Tift Co’s pitchers combined for ten strike outs in game two while SP Rhett Adams of Northside stuck out four, gave up eight hits, seven runs (all earned), & walked one in three & 2/3rds innings of work
The Blue Devils had a combined 22 runs, 19 hits, & 2 errors committed in the doubleheader while the Eagles had a combined 0 runs, 5 hits, & committed 6 errors. Tift Co improved to 17-2 overall; 8-1 in region play while Northside fell to 3-18 overall; 0-9 in region play.
Tift Co will play Schley Co at home next Wednesday at 4:30pm while the Eagles prepare to host county & region rival Veterans next Tuesday at 6:00pm.
Elsewhere the HoCo Bears made the near 2 1/2 hour bus ride southwest to Thomasville, Ga to take on the Thomas Co Central Yellow Jackets in a region doubleheader that resulted in a Bears sweep by taking game one 14-1 in six & game two 10-0 in five to improve to 18-1 overall; 9-0 in region play.
HoCo scored no runs in the first two innings but then they had three in the third, four in the fourth, three in the fifth, & four in the sixth. Andrew Dunford had himself quite a game with four hits, five rbis, & one home run in game one. Drew Burress hit his eighth home run of the season (a two run jack) in the top half of the third to get the Bears’ scoring started in game one.
Andrew Dunford’s homer came in the top half of the fifth (a three run jack) to give HoCo a 10-0 lead at the time in game one. Speaking of Dunford, he was the starting pitcher for the afternoon game where in five innings of work from the mound; he gave up two hits, one run (earned), walked one, & struck out seven.
TCC’s lone run of the entire doubleheader occurred when R. Harvey hit an rbi single in the bottom half of the fourth in game one. The Bears had 14 hits & committed no errors while Thomas Co Central had two hits & committed no errors. The Yellow Jackets pitchers combined to strike out six in the first game while surrendering 14 runs (all earned) & walked a combined six batters.
HoCo dominated game two by scoring two in the first, two in the second, none in the third, two in the fourth, & four in the fifth. Andrew Dunford added another home run in game two that came in the top of the fourth (a two run jack) to build the Bears lead to 6-0 at the time. Drew Burress’ home run streak ended at four games in game two but had two rbis in the nightcap.
HoCo SP Carson Small worked all five innings of game two & gave up no runs on four hits, walked one & struck out nine. TCC’s pitchers combined to allow 10 runs (nine earned) on eight hits, walked six, & struck out three. The Bears had eight hits & committed no errors while the Yellow Jackets had four hits & committed one error in game two.
Thomas Co Central fell to 10-10 overall; 3-6 in region play after losing their fifth & sixth consecutive games & will host Lee Co next Tuesday at 5:45pm. HoCo will prepare to travel to Cary, North Carolina west of Raleigh to play in the National High School Invitational at the team USA Baseball Training Complex.
The Bears’ first opponent will be the JSerra Catholic Lions from San Juan Capistrano, California who was preseason ranked #2 in the nation by Perfect Game. The first pitch is scheduled for for 5:30pm on Wednesday March 29th.
