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Panthers stay perfect in region with 6-2 win

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Fans of the Starr’s Mill and Fayette County High School varsity baseball teams braved a brief, but wild, rain storm and a lightning delay to watch the two county and region 4-AAAAA rivals battle on Wednesday night. They were rewarded with an excellent game between the two teams who entered the game undefeated in the region. When all was said and done, only Starr’s Mill could claim that honor.

The Panthers struck early with Jimmy Tanner driving in a run in the first inning. Kyle McCreary would drive in a run in the second inning and the score would remain 2-0 in favor of Starr’s Mill through the third inning. In the top of the fourth inning, Fayette County’s Drew Ward would drive in Brent Moss and pitcher Phillip Robinson would get out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the inning by getting Panther pitcher Andrew Robinson and Carter Scurry out to end the inning.

In the fifth inning, all three Tiger outs that Andrew Robinson recorded were strikeouts, while Phillip Robinson got the Panthers out with a quick 1-2-3 inning. Rick Williams drove in Ward in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game at 2-2 but Starr’s Mill would have a huge inning in the sixth, driving in four runs for the win.

Nick Terry started things off with a one out double and Philip Shell drove him home with a double. McCreary doubled Shell home and Robinson doubled McCreary home. Scurry would drive Robinson in for the fourth and final run of the inning. The Tigers went down 1-2-3 at the top of the seventh, picking up their first region loss of the year.

In the duel of Robinson vs. Robinson, Andrew Robinson was the winner. He got six strike outs in a complete game, walked one and allowed seven hits. He had been dealing with an injury for much of the season and, according to Coach Brent Moseley, had only been able to pitch five innings so far this season.

“He did an unbelievable job for us tonight, more than we expected” said Moseley. “He was as sharp in the seventh inning as he was earlier in the game.” With Robinson apparently back at full strength, the Panthers now have four pitchers that Moseley has complete confidence in. Moseley also credited his team’s speed for the win against Fayette, adding that he had “the right guys on base at the right time.”

Phillip Robinson pitched five and one-thirds of an inning for the Tigers and got two strike outs while giving up 10 hits and walking one.

Starr’s Mill will host Newnan on Friday at 7 p.m., while Fayette County will play at Union Grove also at 7 p.m.

In other games, McIntosh picked up another region win by defeating Haralson County 9-4. Brendan Hall picked up the win for the Chiefs, pitching six innings and earning six strike outs. He also hit two home runs in the game and drove in four runs. Zack Fallon pitched the seventh inning and struck out one batter. Andrew Metzger went 2-for-2 at the plate and drove in two runs and Dustin Hirschfeld went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

McIntosh played at Lithia Springs last night after the paper went to press.

On Tuesday night, Landmark Christian’s five game win streak came to an end at the hands of Whitefield Academy, 5-4. It was the War Eagle’s first region loss of the season. They hosted Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy last night after the paper went to press.

Our Lady of Mercy picked up their second region win of the season by defeating Mt. Zion, Carroll 8-3 on Tuesday. They hosted Mt. Paran yesterday after the paper went to press.