Friday, May 21, 2004

Starr’s Mill baseball advances to Elite Eight

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Whatever it is the members of the Starr’s Mill varsity baseball team are doing to keep themselves extremely hot at the plate, coaches and fans are hoping that they keep it up. The Panthers continued hitting the cover off the ball Wednesday night as they easily defeated Jonesboro 11-1 and 13-0 in the second round of the AAAAA state baseball playoffs.

Game one saw Nick Terry take the mound for Starr’s Mill and go the distance. It was a shortened distance because of the mercy rule. Starr’s Mill took a 10-run lead in the bottom of the fifth inning which ended the game. The Panthers got four runs in the first inning as Andy Kragor and Carter Scurry each drove in one run and Kory Ison drove in two with a long single. Andy Meyers added another run with an RBI double and then scored on an error.

Jonesboro got on the board in the third inning, but Starr’s Mill got the run back when Andrew Robinson hit an RBI double. Danny Hartpence and Kragor each drove in runs in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, Joey Lewis took a walk, which walked in the 10th run, and Kragor hit a single to drive in the final run. Kragor finished the day with three RBIs and Terry pitched a complete game two-hitter with three walks and one strikeout.

In game two, Starr’s Mill led off the game. Though they got no runs in the first inning, they got four in the second, three of which came with two outs. Meyers drove in two runs, while Lewis and Robinson each added one. The Panthers got three more runs in the third with Robinson hitting another RBI single and Kyle McCreary driving in one with a sacrifice fly. Tamed in the fourth, Starr’s Mill got another run off an error in the fifth before going down quietly in the sixth. The seventh inning featured a five run explosion, including a two run home run from McCreary, an RBI single from Daniel Gwaltney, who also pitched a scoreless seventh inning, and RBIs from Scurry and Philip Shell. Andrew Robinson started the game for the Panthers and pitched six scoreless innings, giving up three hits and earning three strikeouts.

Since the state playoffs began, Starr’s Mil has outscored their opponents, 41-6. They have pitched two shutouts and both Terry and Robinson have earned two wins a piece. The win over Jonesboro was also impressive because the Cardinals made the second round of the playoffs by upsetting Effingham County, the previously top ranked team in the state.

Now, Starr’s Mill waits to see who they will face in the state quarterfinals on Tuesday. If Parkview wins the deciding third match against Wheeler, Starr’s Mill travels to the Big Orange Jungle next Tuesday, but if Wheeler wins, Starr’s Mill likely gets another series at home. Parkview and Wheeler met for the rubber match after the paper went to press on Thursday.

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