Trojans sweep, Spanish Fort falters in weekend baseball
Trojans win, Toros lose to visiting Hartselle, Cullman and
Hoover teams
Monday, March 09, 2009
By DAVID LEE
Sports Correspondent
The Daphne and Spanish Fort baseball teams had mixed results over the weekend
as some of the most respected teams in the northern part of the state came down
south to match up with local squads.
The Trojans swept all four of the games they played this weekend, beating
Cullman 4-3 in 10 innings and knocking off Hartselle 5-1 on Friday night before
upending Faith Academy 4-2 and beating Hoover 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Spanish Fort had tough luck, losing all three contests it played
as the Toros dropped a 10-1 decision to Hartselle and lost 8-6 to Cullman on
Friday evening before falling to Hoover 6-4 on Saturday afternoon
Daphne is now 11-3 after winning its fifth straight contest against Hoover
while Spanish Fort fell to 5-6.
Following are recaps on each of the contests:
DAPHNE 4, CULLMAN 3
(10 innings)
In a wild one, Daphne rallied at the end to knot things up 3-3, then
outlasted visiting Cullman to win 4-3 in 10 innings here at home Friday night as
Jake Maske brought in the winning run by drawing a walk with the bases loaded.
Ty Berridge, a junior, upped his record to 1-0 by picking up the win with two
innings of work in relief, allowing only one hit along the way.
"He did a great job of keeping Cullman off balance once he came into the
game," said Daphne coach Joe Hutchins of Berridge. "That was huge for him. It
was a good win for our team. We came from behind, we were down 3-1 in the
seventh inning, tied it up 3-3, then went on to win 4-3 in 10 innings."
At the plate, Daphne was led by Connor Reese who had an impres sive four hits
while Eric Britain had three.
Cullman is the two-time defending 5A state champion.
DAPHNE 5, HARTSELLE 1
In the late game Friday night, which ended up being really late since the
previous contest with Cullman went 10 innings, Daphne again squeezed out a close
victory.
The Trojans knocked off Hartselle 5-1 as Brandon Peterson (now 2-0) earned
the win as he scattered seven hits and struck out six in the complete game.
"Brandon threw all seven innings and shut them down," said Hutchins of
Peterson. "Overall, we played well. I thought in the game against Hartselle we
had probably the best game that we've played all year long. We did a little of
everything."
At the plate, the Trojans were by Jordan Blanchette and Mason Hutchins who
each had a pair of hits. For Hartselle, Josh Doyle and Taylor Nelson had two
hits each.
DAPHNE 4, FAITH ACADEMY 2
In a matchup that saw Faith Academy coach and former Daphne coach Lloyd Skoda
return to his old stomping grounds, the Trojans managed to get the best of the
matchup on Saturday afternoon, winning 4-2 against Faith Academy. Mason Hutchins
ran his record to 2-0 on the mound with the triumph as the senior allowed seven
hits in the complete game effort.
"I thought that he threw well," said Hutchins of his son's outing. "This was
only his second start, he's still trying to get in shape. We played defense
behind him though." At the plate, Britain led the way with two hits and three
runs batted in.
DAPHNE 2, HOOVER 1
In the final game Saturday afternoon, Daphne knocked off the defending 6A
state champions as Reese (now 2-2 on the year) allowed six hits in the complete
game effort as the Trojans beat Hoover 2-1. At the plate, Daphne was led by
Hutchins and Reese who each knocked in runs in the game. The Trojans have only
lost to local teams this season, having dropped two games to Fairhope and a
contest to Spanish Fort.
Hutchins said his team was winning with pitching and defense.
"That's it," he said. "Right now, we're getting that pitching and defense.
We're getting two-out hits but our hitting isn't where it needs to be. The
pitching and defense are what's keeping us in the games though. We're young and
inexperienced but the kids are rallying around each other. This weekend was a
good test for us because we faced some really good teams."
Daphne will be in action again Friday night when the Trojans head to Satsuma
to take on the Gators in their first 6A Area 4 contest of the year at 6:30 p.m.
HARTSELLE 10, SPANISH FORT 1
Spanish Fort gave Hartselle seven unearned runs that helped the visiting team
take an easy 10-1 victory here on the "Hill" Friday evening. The Toros started
the game on the wrong foot to begin with, committing some errors that allowed
Hartselle to score four unearned runs. Zac Fowler, a sophomore, took the loss on
the mound to fall to 0-1.
"I thought he pitched OK," said Spanish Fort coach Tommy Walker. "Right now,
we're searching for a third pitcher. I'm at the point now with our team where
I'm not worried about what anyone else is doing, I'm worried about our team. We
really need two more starters on the mound so we can keep Aaron Burdick in the
bullpen. We need more guys to start pitching well. I just want us to play
consistent baseball."
Spanish Fort did well at the plate, pounding out nine hits with Wes Runnels
leading the way with a double and two singles.
CULLMAN 8, SPANISH FORT 6
Patrick McGavin (who was battling strep throat) started the game on the mound
for Spanish Fort and tossed five innings before giving way to Aaron Burdick who
took the loss to fall to 1-1 on the year as Cullman beat Spanish Fort 8-6 in a
late game Friday evening. At the plate, Jay Myrick had a double and a single,
Runnels had a solo homer and is nursing an 11-game hitting streak right now,
McGavin had three doubles while Burdick added two singles.
Spanish Fort's difficulties weren't at the plate. "We had 12 hits overall and
every one of our starters but one player had a hit," said Walker. "We had seven
doubles in the game."
"We were ahead 5-0 against Cullman and just couldn't hang on," said Walker.
"We had our chances."
HOOVER 6, SPANISH FORT 4
Spanish Fort didn't have much luck Saturday afternoon either as Hoover
managed to take a 6-4 triumph by pulling ahead late in the game. Both teams were
tied up 3-3 late in the contest when the Bucs' Steven Glas gau led off with a
solo homer to put Hoover ahead 4-3. The Bucs then added two more runs to go
ahead 6-3 and a Spanish Fort rally at the end fell short. Myrick had a solo
homer to trim Hoover's advantage to 6-4 but with runners on second and third in
the bottom of the seventh inning, the Toros popped up for the final out of the
contest. Burdick started the game and tossed three innings before giving way to
Justin Key (now 0-1) who took the loss.
For Hoover, Lewis Hammond earned the win with six innings of work, allowing
six hits, striking out six and hitting two batters.
At the plate, the Bucs were led by Josh McGhee who had a single and double,
by Glasgau who had his solo homer and a single and by Brandon Perry who added
two singles. For Spanish Fort, Myrick had a solo homer and a single, Logan
Rogers had two doubles, Key had a single and a two-run double while Daniel
Sawyer had a two-run single.
Walker said his team played some tough opponents.
"You have Hoover who's the 6A defending state champions and Cullman who is
the two-time defending 5A state champions," said Walker.
"We had leads on both of those teams and ended up losing. We have some new
guys right now who are learning to play the game the right way. We're trying
hard but mentally, we're not where we need to be.
"We're going to get there though. These games were an eyeopener and we knew
they would be. Now, we know we need to get better and I think we can get there.
"I really believe these games (are going to help us down the road). If you
take the first 11 games that we've played, I don't think there are many teams
around here that have played the 11 games that we've played with the caliber of
teams we've faced. It's going to pay dividends for us when we start playing the
area games and as we go on through the season. We know what we have to do as
coaches and players now and what we need to do to get there," he said.
Spanish Fort plays Friday afternoon in a twin-bill in Atmore as the Toros
take on Escambia County starting at 4:30 p.m. in their first 5A Area 2 game of
the season.
