Tigers topple Panthers
Published 12:00 am Saturday, March 3, 2007
Following last week's season-opening, double-header loss to Charles Henderson, the Greenville Tigers varsity baseball team regrouped Tuesday night in dominating fashion by trouncing the cross-county rival Georgiana Panthers. 15-1.
“We just worked on the fundamentals and began taking the complicated steps out of our hitting,” Greenville head coach Brad Horn said of this week's practice.
The Tigers took the early 1-0 lead Tuesday when Casey Weston drove in Ethan Mauch, but Georgiana answered in the top of the second inning when Ronald Scott scored following an error and a stolen base.
With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the third, Greenville put on an offensive showcase with four hits, three walks and seven runs.
The Tigers duplicated that in the fourth inning with another four hits, three walks and seven runs to end the game via the 10-run mercy rule in the fifth inning.
Offensively for the Tigers, Mauch was the leading hitter, going 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, three runs scored and four RBI's.
“You can't say enough about Ethan,” Horn said. “He is a guy who is a team player and, so far, he has exceeded even my expectations.”
Josh Longmire, Lynn Lewis, Zac Smith, Hunter Harrell, Demarcus Robinson, Ryan Smith and Weston also each scattered a hit in the win.
Longmire, Zac Smith, Robinson and Ryan Smith each had two RBI's while Lewis, who finished tied for second all-time in single-season stolen bases in Alabama with 66 last year, finished with two steals.
“His speed and smartness on the bases is such that you don't even have to give him the steal sign,” Horn said of Lewis. “He is going to be a big plus to our team.”
For the Panthers, Ronald Scott and Kyle Nelson had the only two hits of the night.
On the mound, Weston earned the win with 10 strikeouts and only one earned run, while also only giving up two hits in four innings of work.
“If he can keep getting ahead in the count, he will be productive for us all year,” Horn said of Weston.
The Tigers will return to action Saturday as they travel to Brantley to take on the Bulldogs at 11 a.m. in a make-up game from Thursday's rain out.
The Panthers will travel to take on the Goshen Eagles Tuesday. The JV team will start at 3:30 p.m. and the varsity will follow.
Softball
Andalusia 12, Greenville 1
The Greenville High softball team began its 2007 campaign Tuesday night in Andalusia, but the result was not what the Tigers had hoped for.
The Andalusia Bulldogs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after scoring a run in each of the first two innings, but the Tigers answered one of those runs in the top of the third when Brittany White scored to make it 2-1.
Holding a one run lead, the Bulldogs exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the third and never looked back.
After adding a run in the bottom of the fourth, the Bulldogs took the victory, 12-1.
Offensively for the Tigers, eight-graders Abby Blackmon and Cortnee Meyers had the only two hits, with Blackmon blasting a triple and Meyers adding a single.
Blackmon also finished with three stolen bases.
For the Bulldogs, Henderson and Bass had two hits apiece and six other players had one hit each.
Sophomore Nicole Norton picked up the loss for the Tigers and Reynolds earned the win for Andalusia with eight strikeouts.
The Tigers will travel to Troy today as part of a tournament.