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Staff Reports 

Wilcox County baseball team splits weekend region matchups

Wilcox County High School’s baseball team picked up one win and one defeat in region 2-A contests over this past weekend.

On Friday night, the Patriots went on the road and defeated the Telfair County Trojans 4-3 after eight innings, and on Saturday afternoon Wilcox played at Lanier County and fell 12-9.

Patriots 4, Telfair County 3 

Friday night’s contest in McRae took an extra inning to determine a winner, but Wilcox came out on top by a final score of 4-3 to avenge a home loss against Telfair from earlier in the season.

The eventual game-winning run was scored by Wilcox during the top of the eighth inning when Desmond Tisdol made it to home plate after Bo Keene hit into a fielder’s choice. Tisdol had previously reached base in the frame by hitting a leadoff single.

The run put Wilcox in front by the 4-3 score line, and Clark Gaines closed out the Patriot victory from there by finishing an eight inning complete game performance with a perfect 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth frame.

The Trojans had previously scored the game’s first run in the bottom half of the second inning on an RBI single by Jude King.

Wilcox later tied the game at one run apiece with their first score of the game during the top of the fifth inning.

Keene led off the frame with a base hit and Cameron Patterson followed up by reaching base on a Trojan error. Rhett Davis reached base in the subsequent at-bat to load up the bases for Wilcox. Telfair turned a double play shortly after, but Keene was able to score on the play for the 1-1 score line going into the bottom of the fifth.

Telfair County used a single, a walk, and a Patriot error in the bottom of the fifth inning to grab a 3-1 lead, but Wilcox followed up with a pair of runs of their own in the top of the sixth to tie the score once again.

Gaines led off the top of the sixth by drawing a walk, and he later made his way over to third after a stolen base and a passed ball. Gaines later scored on a one-out RBI hit from Tisdol to make the score 3-2 in favor of Telfair. Lagan Luke picked up a hit for the Patriots later on in the frame, and Tisdol subsequently scored the game-tying run on a Trojan error.

From there the Patriots were able to win the game with their eighth inning run.

Gaines picked up the win on mound for Wilcox by pitching all eight innings and allowing just three unearned runs on three hits and three walks, while recording four strikeouts.

Key batting lineup contributors for Wilcox in the 4-3 win were: Tisdol- three hits, two stolen bases, one RBI, and two runs scored; Keene- one hit, one RBI and one run scored; Branson Owens- two hits and one stolen base; Gaines- one walk, one stolen base, and one run scored; Luke and Rhett Davis- one hit apiece.

Lanier County 12, Patriots 9 

Wilcox played a back-and-forth contest in Lakeland against the Lanier County Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon. It was an eight run outburst in the bottom of the sixth inning that saw the Bulldogs ultimately top the Patriots by a final score of 12-9.

The Patriots opened the scoring in the contest with five runs in the top of the first frame. Owens and Gaines each reached base for Wilcox with two outs, and both scored shortly after on a two-run double off the bat of Brock White.

Later on in the first frame, Wilcox picked up a run on an RBI single from Keene, followed by two more runs by way of a pair of Bulldog errors.

Lanier responded with three runs in the bottom half of the first inning on one walk, one hit and a Wilcox error, but the Patriots held a 5-3 lead entering the second frame.

Wilcox scored the second inning’s only run when Patterson reached home plate after a fielder’s choice groundout by Owens.

The Patriots maintained a 6-3 lead up until Lanier tacked on another run in the bottom half of the fourth on a sacrifice fly.

Wilcox later extended the lead to 9-4 after scoring one run in the top of the fifth, followed by two more in the top half of the sixth frame.

Luke hit an RBI groundout that scored Gaines for the fifth inning run.

In the sixth frame, Davis and Gaines each had an RBI hit to push across the final two Patriot runs of the contest.

Lanier then came from behind to take the 12-9 win using three hits, four walks, two hit batters, and two Wilcox errors for a total of eight runs in the bottom half of the sixth frame.

Wilcox batting lineup stats for the defeat against Lanier:

1. Davis- one hit, one RBI and one run

2. Cameron Coleman- two sacrifice bunts

3. Owens- three stolen bases, one RBI, and one run scored

4. Gaines- one hit, two walks, one stolen base, one RBI and two runs scored

5. Brock White- two hits, one walk, one stolen base, two RBIs, and one run

6. Tisdol- one hit, one stolen base, and one run scored

7. Luke- one RBI and one run

8. Keene- one walk and one RBI

9. Patterson- one hit, one walk, one stolen base, and two runs scored

With the results from over the weekend, the Patriots brought their record to 4-9 overall on the season and 3-8 in region play.

Wilcox was scheduled to play another matchup with Lanier County tonight in Rochelle. Next up, the Patriots are scheduled to play a region game at Clinch County tomorrow starting at 5:30 p.m.

 

 Fullington baseball falls versus Central Georgia Arts

The Fullington Academy baseball team played a road game at Central Georgia Arts on Friday afternoon and fell to a defeat by a final score of 10-6.

The Fullington Trojans put the first run of the game on the board in the top of the second inning. Hunter Hughes reached base and later scored the Trojan run on an RBI single from Josh Hendrix.

After Central Georgia Arts tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom half of the second, Fullington retook the lead using five runs in the top of the third inning.

Chase Bryant and Brooks Hendrix started the frame with consecutive singles, and Chase Smith drove in the second Trojan run of the game in the next at-bat with an RBI single.

Hughes later added a one-out RBI single to keep the line moving for Fullington, and Avery Scarboro then followed with a two-run double to right field.

Blake Worley drove in the final Trojan run of the frame on an RBI single, and Fullington took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the third.

Central Georgia Arts countered with four runs in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 6-5 in favor of Fullington heading into the fourth frame, and from there the hosts scored five runs over the final three innings to defeat Fullington by the 10-6 score line.

Fullington batting lineup stats from the defeat:

1. Brooks Hendrix- one hit, one hit by pitch, and one run scored

2. Smith- one hit, one RBI, and one run scored

3. Charles Godfrey-one walk and one stolen base

4. Hughes- one hit, one walk, two stolen bases, one RBI and two runs

5. Scarboro- two hits, one walk, and two RBIs

6. Josh Hendrix- two hits and one RBI

7. Worley- one hit and one RBI

8. Shiloh Kehayes- one HBP

9. Bryant- two hits and one RBI

The Trojans fell to 2-9 overall on the season with the defeat, but they had a region record of 1-1 entering this week, which had them in second place in the GICAA division 1-AA region one standings.

Fullington was scheduled to get back into region play with a road game at Citizens Christian Academy (7-4, 3-0 in region play) this afternoon in Douglas. The Trojans will again play on the road in their next scheduled game, which will be a Thursday afternoon non-region contest at John Hancock Academy (0-7), also at 4:30.