Bob Jones gets the sweep; James Clemens splits with Buckhorn
HARVEST- Bob Jones is on top of the standings in Class 7A Area 8 after the first round of area play. The Patriots finished off Sparkman with an 11-2 win Monday and won the nightcap of the doubleheader to make up for games rained out last weekend.
“We’re playing loose and everybody’s hitting,” said Bob Jones Head Baseball Coach Jared Smith. “We got on them early and scored in five of the seven innings. We had all nine guys putting the ball in play and when you do that you are going to score some runs. Hopefully we will stay hot. It’s nice to be 2-0. It gives us some confidence.”
Austin East (4-1) got the start for Bob Jones and picked up the win. He was relieved by Dylan Ray who is working his way back on the mound and went one plus innings. Andrew Wright came on and worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth and worked perfect sixth and seventh innings.
Wright struck out Cole Strachan to end the threat in the fifth.
Bob Jones jumped out to an early lead and was up 10-1 after four innings.
In the first inning Cam Hill, Mitch Daly, and Dylan Ray got hits and Slate Alford doubled home two runs. Ray later had a triple and went 3 for 5 in the game. Caden Rose had a double, single, and two stolen bases.
John Michael Riley had a two-run home run and Cam Hill added a solo shot in the seventh.
Smith was able to limit the pitch count on his starter to keep him fresh for the area games with Buckhorn starting Thursday.
“We wanted to get East out at around 60 pitches and with the lead we were able to do that and get Dylan back on the mound,” Smith said. “Buckhorn is solid. They have some good arms. Trey Wright is one of their top 3 pitchers.”
For Sparkman Dakota Reasner got the start and was relieved by Alec Gallimore and Luke Ikard.
“Andrew (Wright) is normally a middle relief pitcher for us,” Smith said. “He really looked good today and pounded the zone. We were planning to use him but we needed him when they got the bases loaded. A home run there and it could have got interesting. He did a great job of getting some ground balls. He was really good in the clean innings.
Meanwhile James Clemens got a split with Buckhorn and won the all important third game and has the tie breaker over the Bucks.
