SPORTS

Dodge wins three behind strong pitching
By Joey Marchant
Dodge swept Lamar County and defeated Jasper County in Region 3AA play behind strong pitching performances from LandIn Crummey and Brendan O’Connor.
The Indians got started with a trip to Lamar County on March 30, 2021 where they came away with a five to one win despite leaving 15 runners on base. They stranded one in the first, two each in the second, third, fourth and sixth and left the bases loaded in both the fifth and seventh. Fortunately, Landin Crummey did not require much run support on this day.
Crummey started slow allowing a base hit and walking two in the first to load the bases before getting a ground ball out to end the inning.
After allowing an infield hit to start the second, Crummey struck out two and then threw behind the runner at first allowing Noah Cummings to throw him out at second to end the inning.
Dodge scratched out a run in the top of the third when O’Connor reached on an error and stole second. Crummey struck out but hustled toward first when the catcher couldn’t hold the third strike. The throw to first got Crummey but O’Connor was able to advance to third on the throw. As a result, he scored on a ground out by Garrett Durden. Davis Marchant and Cole Cranford would follow with consecutive base hits, but Dodge couldn’t drive them in. Dodge led one to nothing.
Crummey retired the Trojans in order in the bottom of the third striking out two. Crummey singled in the top of the fourth driving in Logan Slaughter who had reached on a base hit giving Dodge a 2-0 lead. Crummey allowed two base hits in the fourth but would have escaped unscathed were it not for a Dodge error leading to a Trojan run cutting the lead to 2-1 in favor of the Indians.
Dodge added two runs in the sixth when O’Connor led off with a walk and advanced to second on an infield hit by Crummey who was replaced by courtesy runner Gage Pittman. Garrett Durden laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Marchant walked to load the bases. Cranford was hit by a pitch driving in O’Connor. Braylon Mincey grounded out driving in Pittman, Dodge led four to nothing.
Meanwhile Crummey was cruising as he retired seven in a row at one point. Dodge would add an insurance run in the seventh when O’Connor was hit by a pitch with two outs. He stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball before scoring on another passed ball.
Crummey appeared to run out of gas in the seventh when he hit the leadoff man and walked the next batter on four pitches. Tyler Shields came in to relieve Crummey and retired the next three batters to preserve the Dodge win. Statistical Leaders for Dodge County were as follows:
Landin Crummey was two for four with a walk and one RBI. Davis Marchant was two for three with two walks.
Cole Cranford was two for fourth with one RBI. Logan Slaughter was one for four with one run scored.
Landin Crummey pitched six innings giving up one unearned run on four hits while walking four and striking out six.
Tyler Shields pitched one inning allowing no runs and no hits striking out one.
Telfair cancelled a game with Dodge citing wet field conditions as the reason. This was already a rescheduled game after Telfair cited a busted water pipe early in the season. I do not look for this non-region game to be made up.
Dodge hosted Lamar on Friday April 2, 2021. Brendan O’Connor took the mound for Dodge and was dominant relying heavily on his curve ball to strike out 13 Trojan batters.
Dodge capitalized on five Trojan errors in route to an eight to four victory. After O’Connor induced three ground ball outs in the top of the first, he led off the bottom of the inning with a base hit. Landin Crummey followed him with a base hit. Garrett Durden got down a sacrifice bunt, and an errant throw allowed Seth Cosset who entered as a courtesy runner for O’Connor to score from second. Crummey stopped at third and Durden at first. An errant pickoff throw to first went into foul territory allowing Crummey to score and Durden to advance to third. Davis Marchant singled driving in Durden. Cole Cranford followed that with a double, but Dodge could not score again and led three to zero after one.
O’Connor allowed two hits but struck out three in a scoreless second. Dodge went in order in the bottom of the second.
Lamar County would score a run on two hits in the top of the third, but O’Connor registered three more strikeouts in the inning. Dodge came right back in the bottom of the third when Garrett Durden singled and stole second. Durden scored when Cole Cranford reached on an error. Gage Pittman entered as a courtesy runner for Cranford and scored when Noah Cummings reached on an error. Dodge led five to one.
O’Connor struck out the side in the fourth and two more in the fifth as well as two in the sixth before being pulled because of his pitch count. Tyler Shields came into get the last out of the top of the sixth on a strikeout.
After going quietly in the fourth and fifth, Dodge added three runs in the sixth. Kade Harpe got things started when he was hit by a pitch and stole second. O’Connor singled to drive in Harpe, and Landin Crummey walked. Garrett Durden singled driving in O’Connor. Davis Marchant drove in Crummey on a ground out. Dodge led 8-1.
Lamar was able to score three off Shields in the seventh on a bases clearing double, but he eventually shut the Trojans down ending the game with Dodge on top eight to four.
Statistical leaders for Dodge were as follows:
Brendan O’Connor was two for four with one run and one RBI.
Landin Crummey was one for three with a walk and two runs.
Garrett Durden was two for four with two runs and one RBI.
Davis Marchant was one for four with two RBI.
Cole Cranford was one for three with a Double.
Brendan O’Connor pitched five and two third innings allowing one earned run on five hits while walking four and striking out 13.
Dodge traveled to Monticello on April 5, 2021 for a makeup game with the Jasper County Hurricanes. This was a pitching duel with Dodge coming away with a three to zero victory.
Landin Crummey got the start and pitched a complete game shutout. Crummey had some trouble in each of the first three innings as he walked the leadoff batter in each inning but battled back to escape trouble each time. He would not allow a hit until two outs in the fourth inning.
Dodge managed two hits through five innings. Those came off the bats of Kade Harpe and Cole Cranford. Dodge finally broke through in the sixth. O’Connor smoked a ball over the head of the left fielder which bounced over the fence for a ground rule double with one out. Crummey hit a blooper that fell between the shortstop and center fielder. O’Connor had to hold at second because it appeared the ball might be caught. Aron Barden entered as a courtesy runner for Crummey. Garret Durden hit a single over third base scoring O’Connor. With runners at first and second, Davis Marchant hit a ground ball to the right side to advance the runners to second and third. The pitcher was then called for a balk scoring Barden and advancing Durden to third. Cole Cranford reached on a throwing error allowing Durden to score. Braylon Mincey followed that up with his first varsity hit, but Dodge could not score again.
With Dodge leading three to zero, Crummey walked one in a scoreless bottom of the sixth and came back out to try and get through the seventh. Crummey got the first batter to ground out. He walked the next batter. That was followed by an error; Dodge’s first of the game, which brought the tying run to the plate. A line drive to centerfield was caught by Harpe for out two, and Harpe was able to double off the runner at second who could not get back in time giving Dodge a three to zero victory.
Statistical Leaders for Dodge were as follows:
Brendan O’Connor was one for four with a Double and one run.
Landin Crummey was one for three with a walk.
Garrett Durden was one for four with one RBI and one run.
Cole Cranford was one for three.
Braylon Mincey was one for three.
Kade Harpe was one for three.
Crummey pitched seven scoreless innings allowing two hits walking four and striking out three.
The Indians improve to ten and four overall and four and two in region play.
Dodge was scheduled to host the Northeast Raiders for a doubleheader on April 6, 2021 but results of those games were not available at press time.