Patriots split with Austin in rainy doubleheader to win series

Bob Jones and Austin played a rainy doubleheader on Thursday at Bob Jones High School with both teams winning a game. Austin won game one, 7-2, to even the series at one game a piece. Bob Jones won the tiebreaker game by a score of 19-9 to take the series over area foe Austin.

The Patriots return to play on Saturday at home with games versus Boaz at 11:00 and Muscle Shoals at 4:00 which is also Youth Night.

7A #1, Bob Jones (26-6, 1-1) 2, 7A #10 Austin (20-6, 1-1) 7:

Errors and walks plagued the home team as the Pats had four errors and six walks (four which scored), in a sloppy area loss to Austin. Austin managed seven hits while Bob Jones had six. Austin struck first with two walks and a single to score the 1st run of the game. Bob Jones would answer in the bottom half of the 1st with a RBI double by Dylan Ray to score Cam Hill who reached via single.

The Patriots took the lead 2-1 in the 3rd inning with a deep sacrifice fly by Hill which scored Caden Rose who tripled with 1-out. After a scoreless 4th, Austin took the lead for good with two runs in the top of the 5th for a 3-2 lead. Austin was aided by a 1-out walk and followed with a 2-run home run to left field. Austin blew the game open with two runs in the 6th and two runs in the 7th for a final score of 7-2.

Hill led the offense with three hits including a double. Rose added a triple, Ray doubled, and Mitchell Daly singled to round out the hit total for the Pats. Austin East suffered the loss on the mound with three earned runs in five innings on four hits with five strikeouts and 4 walks. Sam Maynard, Rose, and Andrew Wright pitched out of relief.

7A #1 Bob Jones (27-6, 1-1) 19, 7A #10 Austin (20-7, 1-1) 9:

Rain continued throughout game two, but Bob Jones found a way to score as they ran away with a 19-9 victory in the tiebreaker game over Austin. The Pats scored early and often with four runs in the 1st and 2nd innings for an 8-2 lead entering the 3rd inning. Caden Rose was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the 1st and immediately scored off a Cam Hill double off the wall. Dylan Ray followed with a 2-run homer. John Michael Riley was also hit by a pitch, stole 2nd, moved to 3rd on a passed ball, and scored on a double steal.

In the 2nd inning Hill hit a 2-run dinger to score Brett Brosnan who singled to lead off the inning. Riley singled to score two runs in the inning as well. Austin answered with six runs in the top of the 3rd to tie the game at 8-8. After a scoreless bottom of the 3rd and top of the 4th, the Pats would explode with eleven runs with two outs to blow the game open. In the big inning, Slate Alford, Colten Carver, Ray, Riley, Tyler Jones, and Brett Brosnan all had big hits.

The Patriots finished with thirteen hits with Carver, Brosnan, Riley, Ray, Hill, and Jones all finishing with two hits each while Alford chipped in a single. Ray and Hill had long balls while Hill and Jones had doubles as well. Eight different players finished with RBIs in the win.

Ray picked up the win on the mound out of relief with one unearned run on one hit in two innings with four strikeouts and three walks. Riley started the game and went two and one-third innings with seven earned runs on four hits with two strikeouts and five walks. Andrew Wright got two outs with a strikeout.