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Thursday, April 9
Weary Westover Wasted by Peach County
Starting pitcher Alex Byrd was able to pitch on cruise control last night. He kept the "hot" Patriots bats cooled off averaging only 14 pitches(70% of which were strikes) an inning as Peach County pushed their Region 1 AAA record to 7-0 as we pounded the Patriots 12-2This was the second consecutive complete game mercy rule win as we beat Dougherty County Tuesday night 14-0 behind an equally strong pitching performance from Joey Stoy.
Every Trojan starter contributed by crossing the dish at least one time each, Matt Nettles and Grant Powers accomplishing that feat on multiple occasions. The Trojan hit parade was led by a host of Trojans with two safeties each including Nettles, Powers,Taylor Howell and Joey Stoy(Had to use his GPS). Single digit hitters were Justin Harper, Alex Byrd and Jordan Howell, while William Walker and Kyle Pike reached base twice by being patient at the plate and taking what was given to 'em. Our defense behind Byrd was flawless fielding all 20 batted balls, retrieving that that went for base hits and making doggone sure the base runner advanced no farther than the earned bases.
Enjoy the remainder of your Spring Break and rest up as we prepare the Trojan Chariots for battle again next week traveling to Worth County then back one more time to Paul Eames and finally ending the travels in the Syrup Nation on Friday the 17th. Half way thru the Region schedule and our record is....................7-0?! Who'd a thunk it a month ago? The defense in my opinion is the most obvious culprit for the turn around from our early season sub-par performances. But the offense has been clicking right along at a pretty steady pace all along. With that comment on the offense in mind remember, we are doing this with a third of our line up batting less than .300 in Region play. Watch out when everyone begins hitting their norm!! Continue to lift up our fallen back stop in your prayers that his injury will heal in record time and that if by some chance we are able to make the play-offs he could contribute in some manner. Have a Blessed Easter Celebration!!!!!!
Tuesday, April 7
Peach County Pitches Past Cairo
The "Makers" were forced to re-schedule a rain out from last Friday the 27th to this Saturday the 4th for an afternoon Matinee, making a two day trip between Cougar Field in Crisp County then after an overnight stay in the area came to Anderson Field for the two o'clock tangle with the Trojans. Peach County starter William Walker limited our guest from way down in Cairo to only 4 hits and 1 run, along the way striking out 6 and only walking 2, for his personal best performance of the season and another Region 1-AAA victory for the Trojans.
Cairo went quickly and quietly in their opening frame, and for that matter the first four frames. While Walker was stifling the Syrupmakers our offense picked up where it had left off the previous night and put the pressure on the Cairo from the get go. Luke Crowell beat out an infield single then Matt nettles followed with another safety to put runners on first and second with only one out. Our next hitter lined out to left center, giving our visitors from the South false hope by recording the second out. Grant Powers started digging in and before he was settled good he found a pitch to his liking and rifled it thru the 3-4 hole to right center field to drive Crowell in for run number one and the early lead. Playing aggressively early, Powers was caught attempting to get in scoring position while stealing second thus ending the early inning scoring threat.
Our next offensive attempt started with the red hot Alex Byrd getting plunked on a 1-2 pitch then advancing to second on an errant pick off attempt, that also hit the bruised Byrd.Taylor Howell worked a full count walk and then in an obvious sacrifice situation(terminology not often associated with Trojan baseball) Walker put the bunt in the "Bermuda Triangle" between the pitcher,third and short advancing the runners and reaching base safely himself.Bases loaded and no outs for Senior Kyle Pike. Noticing on the previous bunt how hard the first baseman charged, Kyle squared to bunt and expertly lofted the ball over the hard charging defenders head landing the bunt between the first and second basemen in the infield dirt for an RBI single, also keeping the bases loaded with Trojans.The next two peach producers came up empty but Matt Nettles fought back from being two strikes down in the count and worked a two out free pass to push across the Trojans third score of the afternoon. We worked some more two out wizardry in the fourth when Justin Harper reached base with a free pass and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Crowell was intentionally passed by the Makers,to give the defense more options for the third out in the inning. Nettles settled into the box then drove the third pitch offered up over the shortstops head to drive in our fourth, and important, run. Once again running the bases aggressively Matt ran hard out of the box and was caught trying to stretch a single into a double when the center fielders throw towards the plate was cut off and the first baseman threw to second getting a hard sliding Nettles for the third out of the inning.
Meanwhile Cairo did make a little bit offensive noise in the fifth when the 8 and 9 batters reached in succession with singles. Then an attempt to sacrifice the runners was popped between the mound and first. Immediately the call from the officials was "infield fly,batter out" so Walker hearing this good news allowed the ball to fall harmlessly to the turf while shading his eyes. This "act" induced the runner at second to "advance at his own risk" only to be thrown out by our ever alert,and sneaky, pitcher for the second out. The next batter singled putting runners back on first and second again this inning but William buckled down and recorded his sixth strike out of the contest, thus ending the scoring threat and preserving the shut out thru five innings. Cairo finally made a dent in the scoreboard with an unearned run in the sixth to cut our lead down to three runs. The makers final attempt to overcome the three run deficit would be with junior Travis Grimes on the mound. Grimes recorded the first two outs easily by getting two fly ball outs on just 5 pitches. Then I suppose Travis' generosity as the good host overtook him and for that reason he gave the Cairo crew hope by walking the bases loaded then allowed one run to score via another free pass. Or maybe Travis just needed to get some work in against live batters and ceased the opportunity? No one knows for sure but as the next batter found his way to the plate Travis was on his way to center field to swap with fellow junior Matt Nettles. Nettles continued the good Southern Peach County hospitality by hitting the first batter he faced forcing home the third run and putting Cairo one run closer to tying the Trojans. Matt discontinued the "good host style" by striking out the final Cairo batter, earning the save and making the Trojans 5-0 in Region play.
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Monday, April 6
Trojans Triumphant at Panther Pit
Peach County put together their first TOTAL game of the season for a powerful win over the rival Panthers from Perry. Combine the precision pitching from Alex Byrd with the priceless fielding from his defensive Peaches around him and add that to the punctual placement of the team total twelve hits and it all adds up to the Peach County win over the Perry Panthers at The Pit, 10-6.
Leading the way in the hitting department was Byrd with two TOWERING solo shots to straight away center field. This seemed to ignite the bottom of the order as all those following Byrd's bombs contributed hits of their own and combined with Alex's scores accounted for six of the Trojans tallied ten scores. Every hitter in the line up had at least one single with Luke Crowell and Taylor Howell adding two each.
In the field Alex willed his way with the Perry batters putting pitches in or near the strike zone tantalizing them to put the ball in play.Byrd struck out five while only allowing one free pass, and that one was in the last inning when the strike zone appeared to shrink all of a sudden.By making the Panthers put the bat on the ball our defense remained alert and on their toes able to make every defensive play presented to them off of the Perry sticks. My defensive gem for the game goes to the center fielder Matt Nettles. Top of the third inning we had fought back from a 1-0 deficit to scratch out four runs and take the lead. Perry's lead off batter reached first with a see and eye roller between the third base bag and our defender. Harmless enough so it seemed especially when Byrd retired the next two felines on fly outs with only five pitches. The heart of the Panthers line up coming to the plate with a runner still on first but now we have two outs, and on a 2-1 pitch a liner was hit into the right center gap heading towards the fence. Nettles sprinted on the proper angle to cut the screamer off before it would reach it's destined fence, spin around and fire to the cut-off man and keep the runner from advancing past third. Without the hustle from Nettles the ball reaches the fence and the run scores easily! In my opinion if that run scores and the middle of the Perry line up was able to plate the runner from second it's a whole different ballgame. Instead the runners were held at second and third and the next batter flew out harmlessly to Nettles keeping Perry from gaining any momentum. We were able to keep every teams best friend, Ole MO, in our dugout from that point on and record the Region win over the feisty felines from Perry in the dreaded Panther Pit.
Friday, March 27
Peach Plucks Eagles
The Trojans avenged an opening day beating by the Eagles from Northside gave us by coming from behind twice for the win last night. Northside trotted of the "Big Cheese" swinging the sticks stringing together three singles and a triple to take the early 3-0 lead. We responded in our half of the first with two doubles sandwiched between two walks to cut Northside's lead down 3-2. The Eagles looked to add to their lead when they opened the second with a single down the left field line, but couldn't capitalize on that opportunity. Trailing still, going to the bottom of the second, we opened with a single then aggressively attempted a hit and run play. Unfortunately Northside turned it into an out but we did advance the runner, and was able to stay out of two. a sacrifice bunt was then laid down to move the leadoff single to third and give the top of the order the chance to pick up the tying run. And pick it up they did, plus some. Justin Harper drove a single into left field to pick up the RBI then Luke Crowell followed hitting one into the same area to put runners on first and second, but with two outs. Matt Nettles lined an 0-2 pitch to right field that was misplayed, allowing both runners to score and giving peach county the lead, 5-3 after two complete innings. Northside once again led off the inning with a hit but thanks to a diving snag by third baseman Grant Powers of a sure base hit to left. The Eagles scoring threat was harmlessly turned away. That makes back to back innings the Eagles have been confined to their roost with no runs. Our half of the third witnessed some more Trojans scoring win Alex Byrd sent a towering drive some 380 ft. well over left centered field fence for the solo shot. Taylor Howell followed with a full count walk, advanced to second on Kyle Pikes swinging bunt to third. Northside's shortstop tried to force Taylor at third on a slow roller but the throw went wide allowing another Trojan run, helping to extend the Peach lead to 7-3.
Northside found their hitting fashions again in the fourth. Combining four hits with fielding error and four walks the Eagles retook the lead by scoring six runs to take a 9-7 lead. They then extended the lead by one in the fifth with consecutive singles, only to be quickly stopped when our reliever came in and coaxed a one pitch 1-6-3 twin killing. During this time, the Trojan bats went silent, unable to respond and ending up with a 10-7 deficit after going into the bottom of the sixth. Thats when we capitalized on Northsides extra out they gave us. Crowell opened by legging out a close play at first, then went to third on Nettles safety to right. After a short fly out to left that was unable to score the runner from third, Powers squeezed one in the 5-6 hole for a run scoring single and cut into the Northside lead. A pop fly foul out to first (like all those "f" words probably not proper english) recorded the second out of the inning with two runners on. Howell advanced to first via a Northside free pass loading the bases, then on first pitch he saw William Walker lined one back through the box for a two RBI, two out single and a ten-ten tie. ( way too many "t" words ). We are not done yet so keep reading. Number nine hitter Kyle Pike drove in with a go ahead run with a single to left then lead off Harper followed with his own version of the RBI single to left, scoring an insurance run. Luke batted for the second time in the inning and shot a single to center. Running aggressively with two outs we were gunned down at the plate trying to add to our newly regained lead. Northsides top of the seventh started another defensive gem from the Trojans. A slow roller in the 5-6 hole had Powers moving to his left and throwing awkwardly to first. Walker stretched the entirety of his body to reach the throw and recorded the first out. A hard hit in field grounded was mishandled allowing the runner to reach and the tying run to the plate. Howell dealt a 2-1 pitch that was hit up the middle. Shortstop, Justin Harper, shading in that direction snaring the grounder and took two steps to second base and fired to first for the game ending 6-3 DP. Game over- Trojans win 12-10.
Thursday, March 26
TROJANS TRIM COUGARS
Peach County continued Region 1 play last night with a tilt against Crisp County in The Valley.Alex Byrd opened on the mound for the Trojans and started good with two quick strikeouts. The second strikeout was of the swinging variety and the pitch the Cougar whiffed at was down and away and our backstop couldn't hem it up so the strikeout victim reached first. Next pitch F-7 no harm done, we hope. The DH for Crisp worked his at bat for a 7 pitch walk to put runners on the corners with two down.Byrd worked ahead of the following batter 1-2 then the 3rd pitch was squeezed between third and short for a base hit and two runs. Trojans down early 2-0. Next pitch F-7 end of inning. Peach turn to bat and lead-off hitter took a five pitch walk to start the bottom half of the first. Catcher Luke Crowell lined the second pitch he saw just inside the line at first for a stand up double and put runners on second and third with no outs. Matt nettles walked on the next four pitches loading the bases. The very next pitch thrown to the clean-up hitter in the line-up went to the backstop allowing a run to score and Crowell and Nettles to move up 90 feet. Out number one was put in the book via a sacrifice fly to center. Grant Powers entered the box with only one down and runners on first and second. Powers lifted a fly ball to left just deep enough to score Nettles, who had put himself at third with an uncontested steal. A single to left by Byrd was all we had left in the first, but we responded well to the Crisp short lived lead by taking the lead right back away. Second inning our typical BAD inning reared its ugly head when on consecutive grounders hit to short we couldn't catch a thrown ball!!! The third batter in the inning hit a weak grounder to first for what should have been the third out but we had to get a force out on the fielders choice at second. Then we balked home the runner from third to let Crisp tie the score at 3 each. Three up and three down for the home team in the bottom of the second.
Crisp went as easily as we did to open the third then we returned the favor in the bottom,being the nice host we are! Something happened with Crisp during the end of the third and the top of the fourth as they went to work with the sticks. It started out harmlessly enough when a fly ball to left opened the frame for out number one. Then a single followed by a fielding error then a grounder to first for out 2. Alright we gonna get out of it, no harm. Uh-uh, three straight hits allowed Crisp to score four runs and take the lead, 7-3. Give credit to Peach as they did rebound(wrong sport but is March Madness) with run in the bottom of the 4th, but it could have been better as we left the bases loaded going into the fifth trailing, 7-4. Byrd gathered himself after the Cougars took the lead and pitched the fifth and sixth innings while throwing only 15 pitches and getting the three outs needed to retire the Cordele crew. While Alex was taking care of the defense the Trojan bats started to awaken from their gamely nap by responding to the challenge put before them by the Cougars lead. In the fifth we combined timely hitting with Crisp errors to cut the lead down to one run. Still down in the bottom of the 6th by one run we needed to put a little pressure on the visiting Cougars and initially didn't appear that would happen as the first two hitters were disposed of quickly by the Crisp reliever with weak fly balls. Luke Crowell dug in the box and on the second pitch hit a fly ball into the "Bermuda Triangle" behind short, too deep for the shortstop to get to and too shallow for the outfielders to reach. Good hustle out of the box resulted in a double, putting the tying run in scoring position. On the first pitch aggressive Trojan base running allowed Crowell to swipe third and on the errant throw we were able to tie the game up going to the seventh frame. Junior Travis Grimes was called on to keep the Crisp outfit scoring so we could come in for the bottom of the seventh tied. Grimes was able to get out of the inning but I don't think it went as "scripted". Travis retired the first Cougar second to first then they decided to create a little noise after a walk. A sharp single in the 5-6 hole put runners on first and second with only one out. The next batter hit a ball towards the same hole the previous batter went in but third baseman Powers ranged to his left to gobble up the grounder and record the unassisted force out at third to make it two down, but Crisp still had two runners on. Travis buckled down on the next batter getting him to go down swinging. All tied up with only the Trojans left to bat. Jordan Howell worked a 3-2 count for a lead-off walk and put the potential winning run on base. Grant Powers followed by lining the first pitch he saw right back were it came from and putting runners on first and second with no outs! Up next is Alex Byrd in the obvious sacrifice situation. And sacrifice it was, but Byrd bunted the ball into no-mans land between the pitcher,first baseman and second baseman. The pitcher was forced to field the ball going away from the plate and had to make an awkward throw towards the second baseman covering first. Howell never stopped running from second and scored as the throw from first was too late. Peach County wins it in the end 8-7. What an exciting and hard fought contest between two equally talented teams.
Peach pitchers allowed 8 hits while striking out 5 five. Our hitters matched the Crisp total of 8 with Byrd leading the way with three, and Crowell and Powers adding two each while Taylor Howell contributed one. The Trojans will try to play Thursday against Northside then turn around and welcome the Region leading "Makers" from Cairo, but early reports from Weather Central are that Mother Nature is not going to co-operate and rain is on the way. Regardless hope to see another good crowd for both of these contest.
Thursday, March 26
Peach Holds on for Win
Our Trojans jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, then lost focus and barely held on for the win. Timely Trojan hitting combined with early game wildness from the Worth County pitcher allowed us to plate five quick runs but then we just sat on 'em,couldn't put the Rams away!For the night we had 9 hits, a third of those accounted for in the opening frame.Then three more in the second accounted for the next two runs then the offense went on cruise control,missing several opportunities to finish the game early.Contributing on offense with 2 hits each were Matt Nettles,Jordan Howell,Grant Powers and Kyle Pike with Taylor Howell adding one for the game total of nine hits, just two more than Worth had.
On defense the pitching duties were handled by William Walker and Taylor Howell. They allowed seven safeties,all singles,while striking out 4 and walking 4. While I'm on that 4 theme we made 4 more errors in the field, both fielding and throwing.All in all an adequate game with the 7-3 win but we still have to tighten up and play better. An important week ahead with a couple of the early season frontrunners coming to town for key Region matchups. Tuesday the Cougars from Crisp visit then later in the week Cairo with Northside sandwiched between. Come on out and see what the another quarter of the new Region has to offer
Friday, March 20
Westover Loses First of Season to Trojans
The Patriots entered Wednesdays game against Peach County with an 8-0 record. Early in the contest the appearance was that they would maintain that unblemished record. Westover opened the game by reaching base on a Trojan fielding error after the first out had been recorded.This error was just the beginning of what would be a 3 error game,throwing(no pun intended) in several unrecorded mental errors to add to our defensive misery. We were able to get out of this inning without giving up a score but the patriots did leave a runner at third.peach was retired very quickly in our half of the first. Westover started the top of the 2nd by accepting a free pass,well not exactly free as the batter was hit by a pitch! A perfectly executed sacrifice bunt put the base runner in scoring position with less than two outs.Just as it was drawn up on the chalk board the next batter drove one up the middle to chase home the base runner from second.The next batter struck out for the second out of the inning then the leadoff patriot hit a slow roller on the infield allowing him to reach safely and put runners on the corners with two outs.Next batter up went down in the count by a strike and on the following play from our pitcher we attempted to pick the runner off first.The runner broke for second but with a runner on third at the same time we optioned not to get the pick off play and keep the runner form scoring at third.We were unable to record either out and Westover ended up with two runners in scoring position. Two pitches later a grounder was hit up the middle to plate two more Patriot runs and give the visitors from Albany the early 3-0 lead. We did try to answer in the bottom of the inning when Alex Byrd took a free pass on 4 pitches and was chased around to third on a hit and run play.Taylor Howell hit one in the hole where the shortstop was playing, who had vacated to cover second on the steal. we were unable to capitalize on this opportunity as the next two batters were retired.
Our pitching settled in after the second inning and worked the next 5 innings with minimal efforts.(Easy for me to say,write!) The starter worked the first five ,along the way giving up only 4 hits and three runs, while striking out 5 and allowing two free passes. While this fine display of pitching was taking place we began to show a little life on offense in the third.Justin Harper drove a ball over the left fielders head that short hopped the fence and let Harp cruise in to second with a stand up double. Runner in scoring position with only one out. Next he put himself even closer to scoring position by swiping third base. With the count 1-2 at the plate on Matt Nettles he took the next pitch to deep center field and sacrifice his time at the plate to push our shortstop across the plate and cut the deficit by one run.Our fourth went too quickly but the fifth gave us hope. The leadoff hitter battled thru 10 pitches but was thrown out on a bang bang play short to first.Next up a soft liner went to the shortstop for out number two.Now once again we had a Trojan hitter battling and after eight pitches the ball was hit up middle for a single, but we had two outs! Nettles immediately stole second then went to third on a wild pitch. Jordan Howell drove a single to left field to pick up the RBI and cut into the Westover lead. Another single followed Howells then the Patriot pitcher lost a little of his control and hit Byrd to load the bases. Taylor Howell then worked the count full and took a bases loaded walk for the easy RBI and the game tying run.So now after five complete innings the game is all knotted up at 3 runs each.
Travis Grimes entered for the relief appearance and made short work of Westover in the sixth by getting a pop to center and coaxing two weak grounders to first for the 3 up 3 down inning.The bottom of the sixth we once again started with hope.Pinch hitter Joey Stoy led off by working the pitcher to a full count then taking one in the back for the team and trotting on down to first.Luke Crowell's sacrifice bunt advanced Stoy to second and in to scoring position. The following batter was retired for the second out but we still had the potential go ahead run standing at second waiting to be picked up by one of his teammates.Nettles stepped in the box and before he could get settled good he was down in the count 0-2.Matt battled back to even the count then drove the fifth pitch down the right field line just fair for a stand up double and the RBI go ahead run. We ended the inning going to the top of the seventh with a 4-3 lead but the top of Westover's lineup was waiting to answer against Grimes.The leadoff man reached, putting the tying run on,but that threat was quickly erased when Crowell hosed the runner trying to steal second for the first out.The second out was in the book on a 6-3 ground out.Westover wasn't going quietly though as the next three batters reached to load the bases with two outs.Two of those three had the count against them with 2 strikes and no balls but somehow we let 'em off the hook and on base.Then Travis buckled down after a visit from the pitching coach and recorded the last out with a three pitch strike out to help secure the hard fought victory,4-3.The offensive totals are 6 hits with Nettles accounting for two followed with one each from Harper,Powers and the Howell brothers.We earned 7 free trips to first and only struck out once. The one strike out may be the biggest stat of the game as previous totals range from the low of three up to the season high of 9 K's.We are making progress!
Following the ugly doubleheader loss to Carrollton the previous Friday this was a good way to respond with a come from behind, Region win.Tonight we welcomed AAAAA Warner Robins then tomorrow night Worth County comes to town for our second Region matchup of the early season. Continue the strong fan support as we begin to enter this stretch of play in the new Region.If you haven't ordered your Coke products see any of the players or parents to help support this fundraiser.
Now some quick comments about the Robins game.Early on it looked as if we were just going thru the motions to get to tomorrows night Region matchup. By the fourth inning we were considering being run ruled, down 9-1.But then we strung a few hits together to make a push and actually came back and tied the game in the sixth at 9 runs each. The Demons were able to score two more in their half of the seventh and then hold us scoreless in the bottom of the seventh to record the victory against our Trojans tonite. Joey Stoy showed tremendous drive by pitching the complete game, in and out of trouble on several occasions, this all coming after his shortened outing against Carrollton this past Friday night.He struck out 6 but allowed 5 walks.still a very inspiring effort. The offense scratched out 9 hits with Jordan Howell leading the way with two and Harper,Nettles,Powers,Byrd and William Walker each contributing one apiece.The defense committed 4 recorded errors. See ya'll tomorrow night!!!!!
Wednesday, March 11
Trojans "POWERS" Past Bears
Led by senior Grant Powers Peach County had their most productive game of the young season. We pounded out 16 hits,4 of which were for extra bases,with Powers hitting one out of left center field over 360 feet away for a three run BLAST! Grant also added 6 RBI. Every hitter in the line up contributed at least one hit with Luke Crowell,Matt Nettles and William Walker contributing two each. Each of the nine slots allowed to bat also accounted for at least one run each.We accepted five free passes while only striking out four times and took advantage 4 HoCo errors to record our third win for the month.
The tone for the game was set early when Houston County opened with two quick runs challenging the Trojans to out score them from the get go. Joy Stoy put a quick end to that opening rally by striking out the side and let the good guys come in and hit on the home field for the first time this year.We answered quickly with back to back singles but then two outs later the promising inning looked to be in jeopardy. Grant Powers dug in and appeared to be in trouble when the count went to 1-2 in the Bear pitchers favor. The next pitch must have looked like a big ole beach ball floating across the plate because Grant jumped all over the ball sending it WAY out of the park giving us the lead we never relinquished.Trojan hitters scored in four of the six innings we were allowed to swing in sending 9 or more hitters to the plate three of those four times.
On the defensive side or the field the pitchers are starting to get more quality work in. This appears to be allowing the pitchers and fielders to be able to get in, and stay in, the rhythm of the game. Pitchers are becoming more comfortable with the fielders and likewise.This is evidenced by the lower number of walks and errors.The defensive gem of the game has to be from the sixth inning. Houston County had mounted a small rally by scoring 4 runs while we were only able to record one out. Justin Brown had just doubled home two of those four Bears runs and was extending his lead at second to get the biggest jump he could and try to score on a base hit. Lefty Karsten Tufts(sp) lined one back thru the box between a diving Justin Harper and the bag at second. With Brown racing hard for the plate centerfielder Matt Nettles charged fast to pick the grounder up and sling one towards home to try and keep the run from scoring. While the the throw had the proper distance it was up the line towards third several feet but catcher Luke Crowell was able to retrieve the laser and dive back to the infield side of the plate to barely sweep tag the sliding Bear. With the help of this play we were able to stay out of the BIG INNING and avoid a BIG number being hung on us by an opponent in one inning.HoCo was able to push across one more run in the top of the seventh but only to cut the deficit down to six. Final score was Peach County 16 Houston County 10. This completed the early season sweep of the Bears .
The new playing surface and all the improvements that have been made to the field certainly makes one proud to be associated with our program these days. Thanks goes out to all that made this happen this past off-season! Going out on a limb and predicting the Trojans will come away with no less than a split in this Saturday's double dip in Carrollton.
Monday, March 9
Peach Splits(OUCH) in Cochran
Finally we got some baseball weather! Peach opened the morning double dipper by playing the host Royals from Bleckley County.We put the first mark on the scoreboard by taking advantage of the leadoff walk to Alex Byrd to open the second inning. After a stolen base and a passed ball Byrd was pushed across the plate by William Walkers infield roller. Bleckley tied it in the bottom of the following frame when the leadoff double moved to third on an infield grounder then scored on a sac fly to center field. We had a scoring opportunity the top of the next frame when Byrd reached on an infield error then quickly swiped second to put himself in scoring position but we were unable to take advantage of the Royal gift. We came back to bat for our fifth time started with the first two Trojans going down quietly but Jordan Howell provided some two out hope with a liner to right center. Grant Powers followed with a safety putting runners on the corners with two down. Powers stole second to put another runner in scoring position and also taking off the force play. Byrd sent a laser shot towards the shortstops backhand side, narrowly missing the baserunner going from second to third. Bleckly's shortstop was unable to field the seed and Byrd was on at first with Powers moving over to third and Howell scoring the go ahead run. Not so quick my friend! The quick thinking Royal shortstop claimed interference on the baserunner and that the ball had hit our runner. That little bit of doubt the fielder planted with the umpire made the ump consider that possibility and the play was called in favor of the defense. Runner out,end of inning,no score. OUCH!!
The bottom of the fifth was that BIG inning we have been unable to avoid so far this season. Bleckley sent ten batters to the plate. Four of those ten crossed the plate and we committed two errors during that half of the fifth allowing the Royal to build a lead of 5-1.We went 3 up,3 down in the sixth and Bleckly continued to build to their lead with two more runs on three hits and one error to extend the lead to 7-1 going into the final frame. Peach made some noise and showed some fight when we sent 9 hitters to the plate and scoring four of those but we just didnt have enough to overtake Bleckley, losing 7-5. Only two Trojan hitters had multiple hits,Howell and Powers, while Matt Nettles,Travis Grimes and Taylor Howell each contributed one each.The pitching looked better with starter Walker going 4+ and Joey Stoy and Taylor Howell finishing up. We didn't allow any 4 ball walks but did plunk two Bleckley batters while striking out two.
The afternoon half of this double feature matinee brought out the Buford Wolves. The first two inning of this one went withuot much fanfare. We left runners on in scoring position both frames. Luke Crowell led off with a single then put himself in position to score but couldn't get haelp from his teammates.Grant Powers led off the second with a double, advanced to third on a wild pich but still was unable to score. Meanwhile Alex Byrd was pitching a gem while at the same time getting good defense behind him. A leadoff sinking liner to left field was picked off the tops of leftfielder Jordan Howell's shoetops to record the first out. The very next pitch was lined over Howells head but he made a dandy over the shoulder grab to record his second consecutive fine play. The final out of the inning was recorded when first baseman William Walker ranged to his right to stab a grounder in the hole and out run the batter to first to record the out.We shut the Wolves down in the next inning to complete three defensive innings taking only 30 pitches to do so and giving up one hit and no errors.Our half of the third started with a double down third from Crowell.Justin Harper followed with a single then Matt Nettles walked to load the bases.Powers followed by clearing the bases with a three run triple. Buford seemed to have righted the ship after the triple by striking out the next two Trojans but the Wolves pitcher lost the strike zone and walked the next four hitters. When all was said and done in the third6 Trojans crossed the plate to take the early 6-0 lead. For the Wolves give them credit they kept chipping away at the lead we didn't build on until the 6th when we added two more to make the score 8-4 going into the final frame.Buford made a last ditch effort to tie the score when they plated two in the seventh and brought the tying run to the plate with only one out but the Trojan sophmore reliever buckled down and recorded the final two outs for the Trojan victory and get us back to .500 for the season at 2-2. This was a much better all around ball game.We avoided the BIG inning! The pitching gave up 8 hits but only 6 runs scored. They walked 6 and struck out 7 and the defense only committed 2 errors. Offensively we were able to produce 8 runs on only 8 hits while walking 10 times, but striking out 7 times. Leading the hitters was Powers with three followed by Crowell and Harper with two each and Matt Nettles added one.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Varsity home opener Tuesday night the tenth of March. Much anticipation awaits those of us who have not seen the upgrades that were pushed through during the offseason to our facilities at Anderson Baseball Complex.The Bears from Houston County come visiting and will surely be looking to seek revenge for the loss the Trojans handed them last week.
Wednesday, March 4
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR(again)!
After more than 12 hours of thawing I have finally come to my senses(?HA!) and am able to put together the game report. Game time 5:30 Temp 47 degrees. Our Trojans traveled to the Houston County Bears Den and awakened the hibernating animals in the first inning by scoring an early run, leaving two runners on in scoring position,missing out on a bigger scoring opportunity. The grumpy Bears answered BIG in the bottom of the first frame when clean up hitter Leon Phillips drove a BIG FLY over 370 ft to deep center field to drive in the two baserunners that had reached on base hits and take the early 3-1 lead on the scoreboard. After that long drive the sophmore Trojan starter settled in and worked the three complete innings surrendering no more runs and striking out two while walking one.There was a bit of a scare in the second when the leadoff walk advanced to third with only one out. Thats when second baseman Joey Stoy made two outstanding plays back to back .A line drive heading towards right field was snagged by Joey making the runner at third, that was running home for the sure score, to change direction quickly and scamper back to third before being doubled up. The next batter up was the top of the order for HoCo.He drove a hard grounder up the middle but once again Joey was up to the task.While sliding to his right to keep the ball from reaching its destined center field in one quick motion he was back to his feet firing to the lanky,stretching William Walker at first to narrowly nip the speedy runner and record the final out of the inning and keep the runner from crossing the plate.
Meanwhile our offense was trying to respond to the 3 spot hung on us by the Bears in the first but just couldn't come up with the clutch hit,at least not until the 5th inning.Thats when HoCo had to replace their starter and the next pitcher was unable to find the plate, much less the strike zone.Luke Crowell and Justin Harper were plunked on consecutive pitches then Matt Nettles walked on five pitches,setting the table for our 4,5,6 hitters.Jordan Howell responded by placing a 2RBI flare into no-mans land behind the shortstop. Still no outs and Grant Powers hit a frozen(get it,game time temps)to the right fielder on one hop to drive in our third run of the inning. One more scored on a passed ball to make the game score after 4 1/2 innigs 6-4 in favor of the good guys. Once we had the lead we didn't relinquish it and recorded our first win of the short season,8-5.
From this reporters(my apologies to those real REPORTERS for including myself with ya'll)perspective a huge improvement over last weeks beating,but we HAD to improve!Some food for thought on the positves from tonight and some items we still need to work on;
-We used 4 pitchers and except for the first inning fireworks and the last inning uncertainties they all pitched well. Oh yeah 3 of the 4 are underclassmen.
-Our pitchers K/BB ratio of 5/6 was better but we need to have the larger number on the K side.
-We had 8 hits for 8 runs. Howell had three of the eight while Crowell,Harper,Nettles,Powers and Walker had one hit each.
-Our hitters K/BB ratio was good at 3/7.(the larger number is on the correct side in this instance)
-While our RSP(hitting with runners in scoring position) was 5 for 10, pretty good! We left FIVE runners on base and all FIVE were in scoring position.We need to take advantage of every opportunity we get to score runs.
-Our base running NEEDS attention. We had two runners thrown out at third with one or less outs,we had one runner thrown out at the plate on a passed ball and we should have had one runner picked off at second but he was able to "dance" around the tag to reach the bag safely. These could have been 4 more runs!
-The defense committed 3 errors but this needs to be less until our offense starts producing more runs.
GOOD WIN!!!!!
Hope to see lots of fan support as we travel to Cochran Saturday to face one of our ole friends Coach Rhett Grant and his Bleckley County crew followed by a face off with the Wolves from Buford.Come see some good Trojan baseball then maybe those of you Parent/Players that have yet to decide on your College of choice can visit the capus of Middle Georgia College.
PS: After 2 hours and 45 minutes at the newly re-named Bears Freezer the game ending temp was 34. Last nights temp updates are coutesy of another of those unheralded sponsors, The Blue Cobalt.
Wednesday, February 25
Eagles SOAR Past Trojans!
HMMMMMMMMMMM! Trying for the past 24 hours to come up with a positive game report from last nights beating we took at the hands of Northsides Eagles. Couldn't come up with much but here goes. Those new uniforms sure did look good on all those young men representing Peach County. That new catchers equipment was still shiney and reflecting the late evening sun and the night lights. We(spectators) had high expectations entering the season but after a couple of hours of watching "baseball" in blustery conditions me thinks we all have to say there is still a lot of work to do before we start Region play. The biggest positive that should have come out of this performance is simple for both the Coaches and players.They don't have to look for any one particular part of the game to work on because everything needs attention.(Follow my thinking here, they don't have to break down all the different parts of the game to figure out what needs work so they are able to simplify and for me simple=positive) We all know what we saw last night is not what we have come to expect from this group of ballplayers. We had a really good showing from our fans that attended this away game and we need to continue to support these young men as they grow into better baseball players and represent our County.Thanks goes out to everyone in attendance and did everyone notice the AD and the High School Principle were present?!
The Trojans first two offensive frames went relatively quiet with only one hit and a few walks mixed in but no scoring for the good guys. The most exciting/questionable play of this time frame came with Peach batting with the bases loaded,one out and the top of the line up ready to do damage. A slow roller was hit to the shortstop that should have scored a run because only the force at second could have been and was recorded. The second baseman from my viewpoint had alredy conceded the runner to first by not attempting a throw and just "putting the ball in his pocket". The field umpire judged that the slide by the runner into second was an illegal slide calling interferance and calling the runner at first out and ending the inning,no run scored.Without that judgement call we still have runners on first and third with two out and the 2,3 hitters potentially driving in runs.Not to be on this night.Our third offensive effort started with back to back singles and then a fly to deep center that was caught, but could not keep the runner from advancing from second to third.Another single, followed by a throwing error helped us plate our first two runs of the 2009 campaign( note to self maybe not a good year to use that term).The next inning we scored one more run and that was bout it for the offense on the night.Still at this point in the game thru 3 and 1/2 innings the game was tied at 3.The remainder of the game our defense, which had been errorless thru 3 innings, committed 5 errors.Combine the errors, with 7 Northside hits in that time period and they were able to add to their lead every inning and our offense didn't respond and couln't recover.Peach offensive totals were 6 hits accounting for our 3 runs.We accepted 6 free passes but gave them 8 outs by not putting the ball in play.The hits were accounted for by Grant Powers and Matt Nettles with 2 each and Justin Harper and Alex Byrd each adding one.Northside totalled 12 hits for 13 runs on the offensive side of the ledger and took advantage of 8 free passes while only striking out two times.
We will rebound from this and we will get better! Come out to Anderson Field early Saturday the 28th and catch the action as Dodge and Ola come to town and the three of us play ball all day long! Nothing better than spending all day at the ball park. Sorry wives but a day at the ballpark is better than a day doing yard work.Please remeber, if you are still reading, that these opinion are soley the opinions of THIS writer(I use the descrition writer loosely) and should not be considered the beliefs of anyone associated with Peach County High,Paech County Baseball Club or PCHS DOC. All rights are preserved and so on and so forth. Any stats presented in these reports are far from official and will in no way purposely offend anyone. If anything does offend call me and I will address the problem. I realize these are just boys playing a game for the fun of it and I will not knowingly key anything that would bring harm to any of these children. I am re-living this great game with them and thru them. Thank you parents for letting me share with them! Patricia I will never be able to live up to that introduction you put on the site, you set the bar way too high ! Thank you for the kind words!(You may be affecting my reputation)
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