Daphne sweeps Foley

Saturday, April 18, 2009
By DANIEL BOYETTE
Sports Reporter

DAPHNE — Big offensive innings at the start of both games propelled Daphne to an 8-5 and 7-1 doubleheader sweep of Foley in the first round of the 6A state playoffs Friday afternoon.

The No. 6-ranked Trojans (26-9) will host No. 2 Fairhope on Friday in the second round.

"We came out of the box both games swinging the bats well and making (Foley) play deep and put some balls in the gap and were able to get ahead of them," said Daphne coach Joe Hutchins. "But after that, we got flat. Both games, we gave them opportunities."

In the opener, Daphne jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings and Connor Reese (7-3) held the Lions to one hit in six innings. The Trojans went ahead 8-0 in the fourth on a two-run, four-base error when Mason Hutchins' fly ball bounced out of the glove of Foley center fielder Tayler Bishop and rolled to the fence as Bishop narrowly avoided a collision with right fielder Zane Brewer.

The Lions' Taylor Wheaton hit a two-run triple to spark a five-run seventh inning against DHS reliever Russ Mosley.

Reese also had two doubles and two RBIs for the Trojans. Wheaton went the distance for Foley (9-21), allowing nine hits and striking out nine.

Daphne took control of the second game with a five-run first inning that included a two-run single from Tyler Powell and Mosley's RBI triple.

Jacob Maske (4-2) went the distance, allowing four hits, fanning seven and walking one. Justin Anderson suffered the loss, yielding nine hits in seven innings. He also went 3-for-3 with an RBI single in the fifth.