By Quint Bush
The Dodge County Indians baseball team played a double header with the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets on Monday, April 26, 2010. The games had been postponed due to severe weather on Saturday, April 24. The Indians won both games from the Yellow Jackets with scores of 5-4 in eleven innings in the first game and 2-1 in the second game.
The Indians have earned a spot in the state playoffs which begin on May 7th. Depending on how other teams fared in Region 3-AA, the Indians may have to play a seeding game before the playoffs begin. Be sure to see the Dodge County News online (www.dodgecountynews.com) for the opponent, game time, and game location of the next round of games for the Indians.
Anderson Waits: Dodge County Indian Herschel Anderson is pictured above waiting for the pitch during the Toombs County game on Wednesday, April 21. (Photo by Claudia McCree)
Indians beat Southeast Bulloch, head to first round of state sectionals
The first game of the double header got under way at 3:00 with Brandon Beck taking the mound for the Indians. Beck came into the game with a 3-1 record and a 2.65 earned run average. Beck started the game with a single to the leadoff batter, White, the only left-handed batter in the Yellow Jacket lineup. A single and an error allowed the unearned run to score before Beck was out of the top of the first.
The Indians went to work in the bottom of the first against the senior southpaw Jordan Davis and tied the game after a single by JoJo Harrison, who scored on an RBI single by OJ Hogan. In the third inning, the Indians scored two runs after Christian Miller and OJ Hogan singled and then a two RBI double by Clint Taylor pushed the lead to 3-1. Beck cruised through the second and third innings before giving up a leadoff walk to start the fourth. The walk came around to score and cut the Indians lead down to one run at 3-2. The Indians scored an insurance run against the Yellow Jackets’ Davis and extended their lead to 4-2 in the fifth inning.
That would seem to be all the runs the Indians would need in the game as Beck had only given up one earned run through six innings. However, it was in the ninth inning that everyone was reminded why the teams play every inning until the last out is recorded. With a two run lead and two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Beck gave up two solo homeruns to the heart of the Yellow Jackets’ order to tie the game at 4-4.
Davis continued to pitch for S.E.B. and the Indians could get nothing going against him. Indian freshman Aron Chick came on in relief for Beck in the eighth inning and worked himself into and out of trouble all night. Chick was the recipient of two double plays that helped him get out of jams in both the ninth and tenth innings. In the ninth inning with runners at first and second base, the batter lined out to Brady Blalock at shortstop who quickly threw to JoJo Harrison to double off the runner at second. Now with a runner at first base, the next batter was hit by the pitcher to once again have runners at first and second. Then the final batter of the inning hit the ball sharply to Trent Mitchell who tossed the ball to Harrison at second for the final out of the ninth.
In the tenth inning with the bases loaded and no outs, Chick had the ball come back to him on one hop and he threw home to get the runner from third and then Herschel Anderson threw from home to first to complete the second double play. After a walk again loaded the bases with Yellow Jackets, Chick struck out the final batter of the tenth, preserving the 4-4 tie.
The Yellow Jackets’ Davis continued to pitch until the end of the tenth inning, only allowing the Indians to string together back-to-back hits in the third inning. Davis finally took over at first base at the end of the tenth inning having thrown 154 pitches in the game and allowing only eight hits and four earned runs, and notching 16 strikeouts of Indian batters.
Aron Chick allowed a walk in a rather uneventful top of the eleventh inning, allowing time for the Indians to rally for the victory in the bottom half of the inning. In the bottom of the eleventh inning, Jared Page took the pitching mound for S.E.B and immediately walked Blake Moore. With one out, Herschel Anderson hit a double to right center field. The right fielder tried to throw out Moore who was sliding into third, but an error by the third baseman allowed Moore to race home for the win, allowing a 5-4 victory for the Indians.
Aron Chick improved his record to 2-2 on the year after working four innings for the win. Chick threw 89 pitches in his four innings of work and recorded two strikeouts while allowing only two hits. Beck got no decision in the game though he threw 109 pitches, allowed eight hits, struck out four batters and issued four walks. Jared Page got the loss for the Yellow Jackets after pitching in only one inning and recording one out.
In the second game of the double header, the Indians sent Clint Taylor to the mound in an attempt to finish off the Yellow Jackets and to keep from having to play a third game on Tuesday. Taylor entered the game with a 5-2 record with a 1.51 earned run average, 77 strikeouts, 22 walks, and 12 earned runs through 55.2 innings pitched. Taylor was opposed by S.E.B.’s Jake Manahan.
Taylor walked the first batter of the game who eventually came around to score on an RBI by the pitcher, Manahan. After the first inning, however, Taylor went to work and swatted down Yellow Jacket hitters, left and right. Taylor pitched a complete game while throwing 102 pitches, recording eleven strikeouts, only allowing five hits, and the leadoff walk. The one run allowed by Taylor was an unearned run.
Southeast Bulloch’s Manahan gave up only two hits through five innings, but he also issued four walks in the game. Two of those walks came in to score in the second and fifth innings on singles by Blake Moore. The second game was as uneventful for the Indians as the first game was exciting.
Clint Taylor got the win for the Indians and Manahan was charged with the loss. The wins improved the Indians’ overall record to 16-6 on the year. On Wednesday, April 21, 2010, the Dodge County Indians baseball team lost a close game, 2-1, to the Toombs County Bulldogs in Eastman on Senior Night. The Indians honored their three senior baseball players, Herschel Anderson, Brandon Beck, and Blake Moore before the game. The loss kept the Indians in second place in the sub-region and set up a double header with the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets to determine the four playoff teams from Region 3AA.
The Indians sent Clint Taylor to the mound to try to keep the Bulldogs off balance and off the scoreboard. Through the first three innings, Taylor seemed to have little trouble keeping the Bulldogs from reaching base. He struck out the first three batters of the game and only allowed one hit and one walk through the next two innings. After a popup to the second baseman in the fourth inning retired the first batter, the Bulldogs took the lead when Taylor allowed a homerun to Bulldogs pitcher Javec King. Taylor collected himself and got the next two batters on a popup and a strikeout.
King, too, was on his game as he allowed no hits and recorded six strikeouts in the first three innings. The Toombs County pitcher walked Dodge’s Christian Miller in the first inning and after lazily tossing several pitches to first base, wheeled and fired a strike to the first baseman that caught Miller leaning too far away from first. After striking out the Indians’ leadoff batter in the fourth inning, King allowed the first hit of the day to Dodge when Christian Miller singled to left field on a sharply hit grounder that scooted by the Bulldogs’ third baseman. Then, with two outs, Clint Taylor doubled to right center field to bring home Miller and tie the game.
Taylor returned to the mound for the fifth and sixth innings and only allowed one batter to reach base. In the seventh Inning, the Indians pitcher hit the first batter and with one out allowed a single to put runners at first and second base. Pinch hitter Stacey Cheshire hit a fly-ball into the gap in right center that appeared to slice away from the right fielder, Brandon Beck. However, Beck ran into deep right center to snatch the ball from the air and throw it back into the infield. Because both Bulldog runners had failed to tag up on the fly ball, they had to race back to keep from being put out. Beck’s throw went to JoJo Harrison at second base. Harrison wheeled and fired to first to try to beat the base runner’s headfirst slide. The ball got away from Miller at first, but the play was backed up by Dodge’s catcher, Herschel Anderson. Anderson saw the runner at second attempt to go to third and fired a laser to the Indians’ Trent Mitchell who applied the tag to the Toombs runner five feet away from the bag, finishing the strange double play.
At the end of the seventh inning, the Indians and Bulldogs were still tied 1-1. In the top of the eighth, Taylor allowed a leadoff double to Patrick Craft, struck out Lance Mosley, and walked Evan Adams. The Indians’ defense then allowed the go-ahead run to cross the plate after a fielder’s choice for the second out and an error on what should have been the third out of the inning. After the run scored, Taylor got the strikeout to end the top of the eighth inning.
Brandon Beck walked to start the bottom of the eighth inning and then Herschel Anderson flied out to right field. JoJo Harrison reached on a fielder’s choice on a sharply hit grounder to third that erased Beck. Christian Miller singled to put runners on first and third with two outs. O.J. Hogan pulled the first pitch from King far into foul territory and was set to take the next pitch. King then faked a throw to first that caused Harrison to take a step toward home from third. King quickly spun toward third and his throw to the third baseman caught Harrison too far off the base. The ball appeared to fall out of the infielder’s glove at the point of the tag, but the infield umpire had made the out call and quickly left the field.
The loss ended the Indians’ hopes of stealing first place from the Bulldogs who finished 10-0 in the sub-region and 22-2 overall. The Indians finished in second place with an 8-2 sub-region record and an overall record of 14-4.
King only allowed one earned run on four hits and five walks while recording fourteen strikeouts of Indian batters. Clint Taylor allowed one earned run on five hits, one double, one homer, and two walks and eight strikeouts. Taylor also had an RBI in the game. Christian Miller went two for three with a strikeout and a walk against King.
The Indians went to work in the bottom of the first against the senior southpaw Jordan Davis and tied the game after a single by JoJo Harrison, who scored on an RBI single by OJ Hogan. In the third inning, the Indians scored two runs after Christian Miller and OJ Hogan singled and then a two RBI double by Clint Taylor pushed the lead to 3-1. Beck cruised through the second and third innings before giving up a leadoff walk to start the fourth. The walk came around to score and cut the Indians lead down to one run at 3-2. The Indians scored an insurance run against the Yellow Jackets’ Davis and extended their lead to 4-2 in the fifth inning.
That would seem to be all the runs the Indians would need in the game as Beck had only given up one earned run through six innings. However, it was in the ninth inning that everyone was reminded why the teams play every inning until the last out is recorded. With a two run lead and two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Beck gave up two solo homeruns to the heart of the Yellow Jackets’ order to tie the game at 4-4.
Davis continued to pitch for S.E.B. and the Indians could get nothing going against him. Indian freshman Aron Chick came on in relief for Beck in the eighth inning and worked himself into and out of trouble all night. Chick was the recipient of two double plays that helped him get out of jams in both the ninth and tenth innings. In the ninth inning with runners at first and second base, the batter lined out to Brady Blalock at shortstop who quickly threw to JoJo Harrison to double off the runner at second. Now with a runner at first base, the next batter was hit by the pitcher to once again have runners at first and second. Then the final batter of the inning hit the ball sharply to Trent Mitchell who tossed the ball to Harrison at second for the final out of the ninth.
In the tenth inning with the bases loaded and no outs, Chick had the ball come back to him on one hop and he threw home to get the runner from third and then Herschel Anderson threw from home to first to complete the second double play. After a walk again loaded the bases with Yellow Jackets, Chick struck out the final batter of the tenth, preserving the 4-4 tie.
The Yellow Jackets’ Davis continued to pitch until the end of the tenth inning, only allowing the Indians to string together back-to-back hits in the third inning. Davis finally took over at first base at the end of the tenth inning having thrown 154 pitches in the game and allowing only eight hits and four earned runs, and notching 16 strikeouts of Indian batters.
Aron Chick allowed a walk in a rather uneventful top of the eleventh inning, allowing time for the Indians to rally for the victory in the bottom half of the inning. In the bottom of the eleventh inning, Jared Page took the pitching mound for S.E.B and immediately walked Blake Moore. With one out, Herschel Anderson hit a double to right center field. The right fielder tried to throw out Moore who was sliding into third, but an error by the third baseman allowed Moore to race home for the win, allowing a 5-4 victory for the Indians.
Aron Chick improved his record to 2-2 on the year after working four innings for the win. Chick threw 89 pitches in his four innings of work and recorded two strikeouts while allowing only two hits. Beck got no decision in the game though he threw 109 pitches, allowed eight hits, struck out four batters and issued four walks. Jared Page got the loss for the Yellow Jackets after pitching in only one inning and recording one out.
In the second game of the double header, the Indians sent Clint Taylor to the mound in an attempt to finish off the Yellow Jackets and to keep from having to play a third game on Tuesday. Taylor entered the game with a 5-2 record with a 1.51 earned run average, 77 strikeouts, 22 walks, and 12 earned runs through 55.2 innings pitched. Taylor was opposed by S.E.B.’s Jake Manahan.
Taylor walked the first batter of the game who eventually came around to score on an RBI by the pitcher, Manahan. After the first inning, however, Taylor went to work and swatted down Yellow Jacket hitters, left and right. Taylor pitched a complete game while throwing 102 pitches, recording eleven strikeouts, only allowing five hits, and the leadoff walk. The one run allowed by Taylor was an unearned run.
Southeast Bulloch’s Manahan gave up only two hits through five innings, but he also issued four walks in the game. Two of those walks came in to score in the second and fifth innings on singles by Blake Moore. The second game was as uneventful for the Indians as the first game was exciting.
Clint Taylor got the win for the Indians and Manahan was charged with the loss. The wins improved the Indians’ overall record to 16-6 on the year. On Wednesday, April 21, 2010, the Dodge County Indians baseball team lost a close game, 2-1, to the Toombs County Bulldogs in Eastman on Senior Night. The Indians honored their three senior baseball players, Herschel Anderson, Brandon Beck, and Blake Moore before the game. The loss kept the Indians in second place in the sub-region and set up a double header with the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets to determine the four playoff teams from Region 3AA.
The Indians sent Clint Taylor to the mound to try to keep the Bulldogs off balance and off the scoreboard. Through the first three innings, Taylor seemed to have little trouble keeping the Bulldogs from reaching base. He struck out the first three batters of the game and only allowed one hit and one walk through the next two innings. After a popup to the second baseman in the fourth inning retired the first batter, the Bulldogs took the lead when Taylor allowed a homerun to Bulldogs pitcher Javec King. Taylor collected himself and got the next two batters on a popup and a strikeout.
King, too, was on his game as he allowed no hits and recorded six strikeouts in the first three innings. The Toombs County pitcher walked Dodge’s Christian Miller in the first inning and after lazily tossing several pitches to first base, wheeled and fired a strike to the first baseman that caught Miller leaning too far away from first. After striking out the Indians’ leadoff batter in the fourth inning, King allowed the first hit of the day to Dodge when Christian Miller singled to left field on a sharply hit grounder that scooted by the Bulldogs’ third baseman. Then, with two outs, Clint Taylor doubled to right center field to bring home Miller and tie the game.
Taylor returned to the mound for the fifth and sixth innings and only allowed one batter to reach base. In the seventh Inning, the Indians pitcher hit the first batter and with one out allowed a single to put runners at first and second base. Pinch hitter Stacey Cheshire hit a fly-ball into the gap in right center that appeared to slice away from the right fielder, Brandon Beck. However, Beck ran into deep right center to snatch the ball from the air and throw it back into the infield. Because both Bulldog runners had failed to tag up on the fly ball, they had to race back to keep from being put out. Beck’s throw went to JoJo Harrison at second base. Harrison wheeled and fired to first to try to beat the base runner’s headfirst slide. The ball got away from Miller at first, but the play was backed up by Dodge’s catcher, Herschel Anderson. Anderson saw the runner at second attempt to go to third and fired a laser to the Indians’ Trent Mitchell who applied the tag to the Toombs runner five feet away from the bag, finishing the strange double play.
At the end of the seventh inning, the Indians and Bulldogs were still tied 1-1. In the top of the eighth, Taylor allowed a leadoff double to Patrick Craft, struck out Lance Mosley, and walked Evan Adams. The Indians’ defense then allowed the go-ahead run to cross the plate after a fielder’s choice for the second out and an error on what should have been the third out of the inning. After the run scored, Taylor got the strikeout to end the top of the eighth inning.
Brandon Beck walked to start the bottom of the eighth inning and then Herschel Anderson flied out to right field. JoJo Harrison reached on a fielder’s choice on a sharply hit grounder to third that erased Beck. Christian Miller singled to put runners on first and third with two outs. O.J. Hogan pulled the first pitch from King far into foul territory and was set to take the next pitch. King then faked a throw to first that caused Harrison to take a step toward home from third. King quickly spun toward third and his throw to the third baseman caught Harrison too far off the base. The ball appeared to fall out of the infielder’s glove at the point of the tag, but the infield umpire had made the out call and quickly left the field.
The loss ended the Indians’ hopes of stealing first place from the Bulldogs who finished 10-0 in the sub-region and 22-2 overall. The Indians finished in second place with an 8-2 sub-region record and an overall record of 14-4.
King only allowed one earned run on four hits and five walks while recording fourteen strikeouts of Indian batters. Clint Taylor allowed one earned run on five hits, one double, one homer, and two walks and eight strikeouts. Taylor also had an RBI in the game. Christian Miller went two for three with a strikeout and a walk against King.
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