Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Panthers wallop Tigers 15-5

When a baseball team wins a game it is often because of a full team effort. To emerge victorious, the team must have good pitching, timely hitting and a little bit of luck.

The Starr’s Mill Panthers had all that going Monday night as they faced off against the Fayette County Tigers and they also had one player playing out of his mind: Andy Kragor. Kragor finished the evening with six RBI, going 3-for-4 from the plate and clobbering a three-run homer in a seven-run seventh inning for Starr’s Mill.

Starr’s Mill had a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the second when Fayette’s David Owens struck a single that drove in two runs and gave the Tigers the lead. Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the third but Starr’s Mill added two runs in the fourth with RBIs from Danny Hartpence and Ben Kerford to take back the lead. Kragor, Hartpence Kerford and Kory Ison all drove in runs in the fifth to widen the lead to 7-2, but Fayette County wasn’t backing down.

Rick Williams launched a two-run home run right past the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 7-4. In the sixth, Kragor added another RBI with a sacrifice fly and Fayette’s Ri’Chard Davis answered in the bottom of the inning with an RBI of his own.

Then came the seventh inning, when Starr’s Mill, for lack of a better term, went crazy at the plate. The Tigers brought in their fourth pitcher of the evening, Dan Cooper, who was greeted with a triple from Kyle McCreary that drove in two runs. Andy Myers drove McCreary home, Joey Lewis walked and Kragor then hit his three-run homer. Ison added another RBI in the seventh with a double and Hartpence was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. When the inning finally came to a close it was 15-5 and that was how the game ended.

Andrew Robinson picked up the win for Starr’s Mill and the Panthers improved to 16-4 overall and completed a two-game sweep over the Tigers.

Starr’s Mill will host Newnan, now first in the region, today at 5:30 p.m. before hosting Carver at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Last Friday saw Starr’s Mill defeat McIntosh 4-3. Kyle McCreary had a home run for the Panthers, while Drew Grant hit a two-run homer for the Chiefs. McIntosh pitcher Ryan Schwartz went 3 2/3 innings with three strikeouts. He sprained his ankle covering a play at the plate and Coach Toby Black is still waiting to see how severe it is.

The Chiefs will play at Fayette County Friday at 7 p.m. Fayette County defeated East Coweta 8-6 last Friday. The Tigers got two two-run homers from Brent Moss, two RBI from Michael Burton and a strong pitching performance from Phillip Robinson.

In JV baseball Monday, Whitewater High School defeated Our Lady of Mercy 24-2. Justin Evans pitched a complete game one hitter with six strikeouts. He was one out away from pitching a perfect game. At the plate, James Gladney went 3-for-3, Jonathan Ashley and Nick Rosa went 2-for-2, and Jonathan Jaurigue went 2-for-4. Whitewater will play their final game of the year Friday against Chapel Hill.