The Indians were defeated in both games by the Pierce County Bears. Dodge finished their season with a 16-8 record. Christian Miller took the loss in the first game, 9-4.
Clint Taylor started and lost the second game, 14-2. Pierce was to travel to Macon to face the Howard High School Huskies in the second round of the state playoffs on Wednesday, May 12, 2010.
The Indians got off to a good start in the top of the first inning in game one by taking a 2-0 lead. Indians pitcher Christian Miller struggled in his first time taking the mound since defeating Dublin at home on April 13.
With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the first, Miller walked in the first run of the day for the Bears. Then, a ground ball to the infield yielded a double play to help the Indians get out of the first inning leading 2-1.
After the first inning, however, Pierce’s bats came to life. The Indians struggled to string together hits and even hard hit balls didn’t seem to travel as far for Dodge as for the Pierce County batters.
Miller did have another great play made behind him, however. In the fourth inning, with nobody out and runners at first and third, a Bear batter hit a ball to right field that everyone in the stadium thought would fall for a hit. The runners had left base without tagging-up on the fly ball out. Clint Taylor made a spectacular catch and quickly slung the ball into second base where shortstop Brady Blalock tagged second and fired a strike to first base to complete the 9-6-3 triple play. That turned out to be the highlight of the day for the Indians, who had not played a game since a double header defeat of the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets in Eastman on Monday, April 26. Junior Jayk Graham got the complete game win for the Bears.
Christian Miller took the loss for Dodge and finished the year with a 5-2 record as a pitcher.
In the second game, Pierce continued to pound Indian pitching. Clint Taylor, the Region 3AA Pitcher of the Year, took the hill for the Indians. Taylor had played the entire first game in a hot outfield and never really found his pitching rhythm or the control for which he had been known all year.
However, even when he made seemingly perfect pitches, Pierce County’s ferocious lineup hit him hard. “I threw a curveball low and away to a right-hander and he still drove it into the scoreboard,” Taylor said. The relentless Bears hitters never let up. The game ended with the Indians losing by a score of 14-2. The Indians have an 0-5 record against Pierce County during the last three seasons. All of those games were played in Blackshear. Sophomore Will Lowman got the win for Pierce County.
Clint Taylor took the loss for the Indians and finished the year with a 6-3 record. The Indians finished the season with a 16-8 record, a five win improvement over last year’s 11-8 record.
The Indians will lose three starters to graduation. Catcher Herschel Anderson, center fielder Blake Moore, and right fielder/pitcher Brandon Beck won All Region honors as seniors.
