The HoCo Bears baseball team hosted Central Ga foe Mary Persons earlier tonight and after four and a half innings of close baseball, the Bears were able to pull away from the Bulldogs late to win 16-6 in six innings to sweep their round robin mini tournament.
The visitors got the scoring in the top half of the first inning when Cole Carr hit a single that drove in Tristan Hunt to give Mary Persons a 1-0 lead and Carr would be thrown out at second in the process. The host tied the game at one all when Troy Carpenter grounded into FC to drive in Kendall Jackson in the last of the first.
The Bulldogs retook the lead in the first of the third when Brady Christman hit an rbi single to drive in Lake Evans to make the score 2-1 MP and they would later make it 3-1 when Cole Carr hit an rbi single to drive in Brady Christman. HoCo would get a leadoff single from Kendall Jackson to bring up Eli Stephens and Stephens hit an absolute two-run bomb over the trees to left to tie the game at 3 in the last of the third.
The Bears kept the Bulldogs off the board in the first of the fourth and HoCo would take it’s first lead of the game, a lead they would never relinquish when Vick Gann hit an rbi triple to drive in Isaiah Galason to make the score 4-3 Bears. The host extended it’s lead when Will Allen was walked to carousel the bases and shortly thereafter, Noah Odom scored on a wild pitch to make the score 6-3 HoCo.
Hudson Sherman would continue the Black, Silver, and White onslaught in the last of the fourth by hitting a two rbi double to drive in Troy Carpenter and Ethan Buffone to make the score 8-3 HoCo after four innings of play. Mary Persons however would continue to do what it did in it’s first two tournament games and that is making a rally and they did so when Brady Christman hit a two run jack to center field to make the score 8-5 Bears.
The next batter would be Ryan Causey and he hit a solo jack to right field to cut the gap down to 8-6 HoCo and Mary Persons almost cranked two more homers from their next two batters after Causey however, Cole Carr flied out deep to left field at the warning track but the defensive play of the game and probably the play of the year was when Gavin Barr hit the ball to center field that would go over the wall but Vick Gann made the catch to absolutely rob Barr of a homer.
The host would ultimately get out of the frame up 8-6 and would go back to work on offense in the last of the fifth and it started when Vick Gann hit an rbi single to drive in Isaiah Galason to make the score 9-6 HoCo and then, Troy Carpenter grounded into FC to drive in Vick Gann and make the score 10-6 Bears after five innings of play.
HoCo would keep the Bulldogs off the board in the top half of the sixth to send it to the bottom of the sixth and this where the Black, Silver, and White would pull away to win by run rule and it started with Isaiah Galason hitting a 3 rbi double that drove in Tyson Ganas, Hudson Sherman, and Christian Wahiwe to make the score 13-6 HoCo.
Vick Gann would follow suit with a rbi double to drive in Isaiah Galason to make the score 14-6 Bears and the scoring would continue when JT Withers was walked to carousel the bases to score Vick Gann and the game-sealing run was scored when Tyson Ganas was hit by pitch to carousel the bases to score Kendall Jackson and give HoCo the 16-6 victory in six innings.
Vick Gann and Isaiah Galason led the Black, Silver, and White in rbis with three each followed by Eli Stephens, Troy Carpenter, and Hudson Sherman with two, and JT Withers, Ethan Buffone, and Tyson Ganas with one while Mary Persons was led in rbis by Brady Christman with three, Cole Carr with two, and Ryan Causey with one.
HoCo SP Max Wilhide surrendered three runs (two earned) on six hits, walking none, and striking out four in three innings of work. Relievers’ Raymond Byrd and Logan Elble combined to surrender three runs (all earned) on five hits, walking one, and striking out one in three innings of relief work.
The Bulldogs’ pitchers combined to surrender 16 runs (14 earned) on 12 hits, walking eight, and striking out seven in the process. HoCo had 12 hits and committed one error early on in the contest while Mary Persons had 11 hits and committed three errors.
The Bears improve to 5-1 overall and will now get ready to travel to the south end of Birmingham to Hoover to get ready for the Perfect Game Showdown which will begin for the Black, Silver, and White on Thursday February 29th against the Headland, AL Rams at 5pm while Mary Persons falls to 3-4 overall and losing their third game in their last four outings and will prep to host Central Ga foe Veterans on Wednesday at 6:30pm.
