Friday, May 28, 2004

Starr’s Mill spilts with Parkview

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Though they won the first game, 9-7, it did not look good Wednesday for the Starr’s Mill’s varsity baseball team.

Despite getting two men on base in the first inning, the Panthers weren’t able to score and Parkview answered by leading off the bottom of the inning with back-to-back home runs off of pitcher Nick Terry. The two teams went down 1-2-3 in the second and then Starr’s Mill cut into the lead with an RBI from Andy Kragor. Terry and the Panthers mowed down Parkview in the bottom of the third to keep the score at 2-1. Danny Hartpence scored the tying run off a wild pitch and Andrew Robinson hit a two run home run to give Starr’s Mill a 4-2 lead in the fourth. Andy Meyers added another home run in the inning to make it a 5-2 lead. Robinson and Meyers’ home runs were their first of the season.

But Parkview wasn’t done. After leading off with a base hit, Parkview hit back to back homeruns for the second time in the game. The two teams entered the fifth inning tied at 5. It stayed that way until the top of the sixth inning when Joey Lewis hit a three-run homer and Hartpence hit an RBI double. Parkview led off the bottom of the inning with another homer and followed it up with an RBI double. Blake Nation came in and relieved Terry and got the final two outs in the inning.

Starr’s Mill couldn’t add any insurance runs in the seventh and it looked like they would need them as Parkview loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning after getting one out. Robinson came in to relieve Nation and got the double play to end the first game.

The Panthers finished with nine runs on 15 hits, while Parkview had seven runs on nine hits with five errors.

The second game of the doubleheader was a 9-0 loss and Starr’s Mill accumulated only three hits. Kyle McCreary hit a double and Meyers and Terry each had a hit as well. Parkview scored two runs in the first, three runs in the second, two runs in the fourth and two more in the seventh.

The loss was only the second time that Starr’s Mill had been shutout all season. In fact, their last loss was the 14-0 shutout at the hands of Newnan.

Starr’s Mill played the deciding match against Parkview last night at 6 p.m., after the paper went to press. For updates, visit www.thecitizennews.com or check out Sunday’s edition of The Citizen.