Diamond Canes Go On a Tear

Since last Wednesday, April 13, the baseball ‘Canes have won four games in a row, scoring 72 runs and only allowing 12. All four wins were region games, and their region record has jumped from 1-7 to 5-7, while their overall record is 9-11.

Their latest win came Monday at home where they defeated Southwest Macon 18-8 in six innings.

Clay Hardy started the game on the mound, but was relieved by Travis Hulsey in the first inning, who was also relieved by Jonathan Bell in the fifth inning during which Southwest tied the game at 8-8. Dee Chapman came on in the top of the sixth and got the win.

Southwest jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, but the ‘Canes put up five runs of their own and led 5-2 after one.
Both teams scored two runs in the second and the ‘Canes maintained their lead at 7-4. Then Southwest scored four in the top of the fifth and led for the second time in the game by a score of 8-7, but the ‘Canes bounced back for four runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth and once again took the lead 11-7.
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They went on to score seven more runs in the top of the six, led by 10 runs, and invoked the mercy rule to end the game.

A.J. Thomas led the hitting with a single, a triple and three RBI, followed by Bell with a single, a triple and two RBI, Patrick Clements with a double, a single and two RBI, Chapman with a triple, a single and one RBI, Sadarius Rooks with a single, a double and one RBI, Kevin Camp a double and two RBI, Brady McMichael and Shane Pulliam with a single and an RBI each, and Taylor Fields and Hulsey each with a single.

When asked about his team’s recent avalanche of run production, and their chances in the playoff hunt, Athletic Director and Head Baseball Coach Chris Jenkins said, “We’ve recently done a better job of using the entire field instead of trying to pull the ball, and even though we lost to Pike County, a team which has been picked to win the state title, it was a very close game and it was a confidence builder for us.

As far as the playoffs are concerned, we have to win out, but if we play like we have the last two weeks that can happen.”

The team was scheduled to play at Putnam yesterday, too late to report the results. They are also scheduled to play Greene at home tomorrow, April 22 at 5 p.m., which will be Senior Night.
Also, they are scheduled to travel to Crawford next Tuesday, April 26.

The JV was scheduled to play a double header Tuesday at Putnam, too late to report in this edition.

They are also scheduled to play a double header versus Social Circle at home today, April 21 at 4:30 p.m.