Bulldogs Lose In A Great High School Baseball Game!

Not all baseball games are created equal.  Sometimes a team can win while playing poorly.  Sometimes teams lose by playing poorly.  Then other times, like Monday, April 5th at North Greene, someone has to be the loser!  Below are notes from the game.  

*Josh Owens battled, giving Hampton a quality start on the mound.  The senior struck our four in his four innings of work, surrendering only one earned run.  

*Morgans Lyons once again showed why he is one of the best athletes in the region.  The junior right hander came out of the Bulldog bullpen in the 5th inning with runners on 2B and 3B and zero outs.  The North Greene Huskie batter hit a fly ball to LF.  Sophomore, Brody Hicks caught the ball and threw a shot to the plate to freshman, Chance Point who replaced Lyons as catcher, to nail a runner attempting to tag up and score!  Lyons ended the 5th inning by making a sliding grab of a low popup in foul territory on the first base side.  At the plate Lyons hit two towering deep doubles to centerfield.  

*After the exciting close to the bottom of the 5th, the Bulldogs threatened to tie the game.  Lyons led off the inning with one of his two doubles.  Next, hitting in the two hole in the batting order, Point had a base hit to the Huskie centerfielder.  3B Coach, Cory Rhodes held Lyons at 3B, but Point was able to advance to 2B on the throw home from centerfield.  After a Bulldog batter struck out, cleanup hitter, Caleb Royston drew a walk.  The bases were loaded for big Collin Morgan.  The lefty hit a line drive up the middle only to have it snagged by the North Greene shortstop, who doubled Point off at 2B.  Like we have been saying all season, "that's baseball."  A few inches to the left or right and we would have had a tie game.  

*In the 7th inning, Conor Jones drew one of his two walks on the night.  Hicks then reached on an error, to leave an at-bat for Lyons.  After battling, Morgan grounded out to the North Greene third baseman to end the game.  

*The Bulldogs also had runners at 2B and 3B in the top of the 4th inning with only one out, but could not get on the board.  

*Hampton attempted to squeeze everything it could out of its pitching staff.  After Lyons relieved Owens, the right hander was pulled at 25 pitches, so he would be eligible to pitch on Tuesday vs. North Greene.  Brody Hicks entered to relieve Lyons and inherited a batter with a full count.  The sophomore LHP promptly ended the inning with a strikeout on one pitch!  After Hicks started the top of the 6th, he was relived by Tuesday's starter, Caleb Royston, who inherited a bases loaded situation himself after the Bulldog dugout intentionally walked the third hitter in the Huskie order after he had a 3 balls and one strike count on him.  Royston ended the bottom of the 6th with a strikeout, one of seven Bulldog pitchers recorded on the day.     

*The Huskie starting pitcher, left hander, Carson Whaley was really good, pumping fastballs, many of which were over 80 mph.  The Huskies are currently one of the top ranked teams in the state.  

*Game two of the series is Tuesday, April 6th at 7:00 at Scotty Bunton Field.