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AMERICUS – After one inning of play, the cross town baseball battle between Sumter County (SCHS) and Furlow Charter (FC) was a close affair, with the Panthers leading 2-9. However, after the Falcons scored a run in the top of the second inning on an error by SCHS, the Panthers countered with 10 runs on four hits and took advantage of six walks. This 10 run inning by the Panthers would effectively seal the game for them, as they would go on to defeat the Falcons 18-3 on Monday, February 27, at Thomas Bell Stadium.

While he was pleased with the victory, SCHS Head Coach Lee Wright knows that his club still has a lot of work to do for them to get to where they want to be as a program.

“We took advantage of some of the errors they made, but we are still learning. We’re still young,” Wright said. “They’ve got a lot of room to grow, so with each day, we are just trying to get better.”

As for FC, this is their first year as a full-fledged varsity baseball program and head coach Brooks McDonald knows that at this point, it’s about getting the little things right every day to become fundamentally sound. “We are waiting for the small things to click together,” McDonald said. “And once we get the small things to click together, the big pictures are going to come. We’ve got effort. We’ve got energy and once we can take some of these guys who might be a little younger in the sport of baseball and get the fundamentals underway, we’re going to have something working. That I’m positive,” McDonald continued.

The Panthers scored 18 runs on eight hits and committed three errors, but numerous walks, wild pitches and passed balls that led to numerous runs for SCHS plagued the Falcons.

Jacorey Wise led the Panthers’ offense by going 3 for 3 with two RBIs and a run scored and Koby Robinson went 2 for 2 with two walks and scored four runs.
Torrence Rush started on the mound for SCHS and struck out four batters while giving up a run on one hit in two innings of work.

Brandon Bushey got the Falcons their only hit of the game and Ryan Minyard got the start on the mound for FC. Minyard struggled in his two innings of work, giving up 18 runs on eight hits and walking 11. However, he was able to post eight strikeouts.

The Panthers (2-1-1) will travel to Blakely, GA to take on early County on Tuesday, February 28, at 5:30 p.m. As for the FC Falcons (0-2-1), they will travel to Butler to take on the Taylor County Vikings on Tuesday, February 28. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.