Chris Whitaker
May 03, 2008 08:51 pm
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ALBANY — Southland met heartbreak again on Friday.
After Michael Swain’s and Mason Greene’s home runs gave the Raiders a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning over rival Deerfield, the Knights responded with three in the bottom half for a 6-5 win.
Swain was 3-for-4 with four RBIs, including the two-run homer, and he retired 10 in a row at one point during the game on the mound. But four of his five walks scored as the Knights won their first region title in three years.
“It’s heartbreaking, it’s frustrating,” said Raiders coach David Cochran. “It’s hard to even find words sometimes.
“Unlike the first game, we hit the ball pretty much. We faced a fine pitcher, and we basically knocked him out of the game in the sixth. That’s what you want to do. But we didn’t care of our business when the reliever came in. He was a left-hander and has his off-speed and breaking pitch working.”
That reliever was Kevin McCrary, who also drove in the tying run in the sixth before Jake Moore scored the go-ahead run on one of two Southland errors.
Deerfield had the first two batters of the game and the leadoff in the second reach via walk. Coaches tend to say about 70 percent of leadoff walks score, and on Friday, that was just the case. Swain dropped to 5-1 on the season, and he threw 71 percent of his 91 pitches for strikes.
“That’s one of the things we really harp on with every pitcher,” said Cochran. “We’re trying to get people to earn their way on. You’ve got to keep those at a minimum if you can.
“He pitched a gutsy game. It was a tough situation, and we had great defense — we turned two double plays.”
The first double play came in the first after Deerfield took a 2-1 lead. The other came in the sixth when the Raiders had the leadoff walk on before the Knights hit into a 6-3 double play.
But that’s when Deerfield got going. The Knights put together three-consecutive hits and then an error to take the lead for good.
“When you have sports, whichever one it may be, you’re going to have those times,” said Cochran. “The key to anything like that an adversity is to see how fast you can work through them and learn from them.”
The homer from Greene was his first of the season, and Adam Fussell had two hits for Southland (12-6). Grant Massey had a double, and Stephen Mann had two hits for Deerfield (15-1).
The Raiders finish the regular season with games at Brookwood on Monday and at home on Tuesday against Trinity Christian. They will face Pinewood Christian in the first round of the GISA AAA playoffs with Game 1 set for 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
Late Thursday
TCC 7-12,
AMERICUS-SUMTER 2-2
THOMASVILLE — Thomas County Central swept a doubleheader with Americus-Sumter on Thursday, winning 7-2 and 12-2.
David Parks had two solo home runs in the first game and a double in the second game to lead the Panthers (6-19). Caleb Cochran had a double in Game 1 and took the loss, and Parks suffered the loss in Game 2. Six of TCC’s 12 runs in the second game were unearned.
Gary Smith led TCC (17-8) with two home runs and two triples and drove in seven runs in the doubleheader.
“We played good the first game I thought, we hung in there and fought,” said coach Kagan McClain. “They were just better than us. The second game they came out really swinging and had their ace on the mound. Our kids played hard and didn’t play bad. They just played better.”
The Panthers will travel to Greenbrier on Friday for a doubleheader with times to be determined. Greenbrier is the defending 4A state champions.
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