‘Canes Defeat Putnam 5-3

The Varsity ’Canes defeated Putnam Co. 5-3 Tuesday night, in a contest between two of the top four teams in the Region standings.

Leading the hitting was Walt McMichael with two RBIs and Pat Clement added an RBI. Dustin Womack and Aaron Newton also had productive days at the plate. The key run was scored by Jacob Cavender, who avoided a tag on a squeeze play to score the Canes fifth run of the night.

Tyler Mote pitched all seven innings, recorded seven strike-outs, while allowing 7 hits.

Womack and Justin Bradley executed a fine double play for the ’Canes, in a crucial situation. The entire defense was on their toes, backing up Mote, recording another error-free game.

“This was another huge region win for us. Putnam has the best pitcher in the region, and we knew going in that we were going to have to take advantage of every scoring opportunity, and we were able to do that,” said head coach Chris Jenkins.

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“We did a good job on the mound, and the defense behind Tyler was outstanding, again. He does a good job of getting ahead in the count and throwing strikes, which makes him the type of pitcher that guys like playing behind. He didn’t have his best stuff tonight, but he made them put the ball in play and we did a great job of making the plays behind him.”

“The key play, for me, was Jacob scoring the run to give us a 2-run lead going into the 7th inning. They had the top of their order coming up, and that extra cushion helped us relax a little bit and put that much more pressure on them.

“They did a nice job of defending the squeeze, but Jacob just made one of those plays that you can’t coach them to do, they just have to be ballplayers every once in a while,” he said.

The Varsity ’Canes came up short against Bleckely Co. last Friday night. Pitching and sub-par defense caused the Canes to face an early deficit in the first inning, and although they battled back, they were never able to recover.

The ’Canes scored their four runs in the third and could not get any more across the plate through their final at bat.

Quality at bats came from Aaron Newton and Tyler Mote each with an RBI and Dustin Womack, Brelan Crowe, Justin Bradley, Walt McMicahel, and Chase Caron.

Tony Shumate took the loss on the mound for the ’Canes, Dustin Womack held the Royals scoreless for 4 innings in relief.