Hicks Gives Bulldogs Gutsy, Tough Performance Against Huskies!

The North Greene Huskies are one of the top high school baseball teams in the state of Tennessee.  They have not one, but two dominant starting pitchers (one a right hander, the other, a left hander).  Facing those two pitchers is the equivalent of facing the 1985 Chicago Bears or 2001 Baltimore Ravens NFL defenses, or the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls NBA defense.  It's hard to get anything going on offense!  In saying that, we had to keep the game close, and Caleb Royston and Josh Whitson were unavailable from Friday night vs. the Unaka Rangers, and we are holding Josh Owens (who has not pitched since Friday, April 16 at South Greene) to continue to give his arm more rest from the mound (although he has returned to the field) and saved him for a "do or die" kind of situation.

Left hander, Brody Hicks has pitched better and better as the 2021 season has went on.  He looked really good in a 16 pitch tuneup out of the pen on Friday night, striking out all three Ranger batters.  Numbers can't define what he gave us on the bump on Saturday afternoon.  He pitched into the 6th inning against a team with eight or nine senior hitters, in a pressure environment, in a season that has not went as well as the talented, hard working, disciplined lefty would have liked.  Hicks only surrendered three hits!  One of those hits landed on the chalk down the left field line on a curveball a Huskie batter was well in front of.  He was down in the zone with his fastball and threw his curveball consistently for strikes.  He made big pitches in big counts (counts on the batter and big spots in the game).  Surrendering only four earned runs in over five innings pitched against that ball club should be a huge confidence booster for Mr. Hicks!  

Notes:

*Collin Morgan has played a solid postseason for the Bulldogs.  The big left hander has collected three hits in the two games and made several nice, clutch plays in right field.  

*Josh Owens was 0-3 with three strikeouts against the Huskies, but those final numbers are deceiving, as Owens had two tough at-bats against the North Greene right hander, including one eight or nine pitch AB.  One of the strikeouts should have been ball four.  

*Parker Henry made a tough, tough, highlight reel catch on a fast moving liner hit to centerfield in the 6th inning that appeared to be a sure triple over Henry's head.  

*Hampton recorded an out at home on an infield in bases loaded defensive situation when a ground ball was hit to Owens at second base, who threw to catcher, Morgan Lyons for the forceout at home plate.  

*Hampton picked to 1B when a Huskie runner was going to be in motion, retiring the runner at 2B on a throw from 1B, McKinley Kuhn to shortstop, Josh Whitson.  

*Whitson and third baseman, Chance Point both made big individual plays on defense for the visiting team on the scoreboard.

*North Greene scored four in the 6th, allowing the final score to not indicate how competitive the game was.  

*Caleb Royston struck out 10 Sullivan North Raiders on March 30th in a 9-4 Bulldog win at Scotty Bunton Field.  With Josh Whitson and now, Josh Owens, available, "Roy" will take the ball on the bump for the Bulldogs in a win or the season is over situation.  

*First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 on Monday night at David Crockett High School.

*It was good to have Coach Scotty Bunton in the stands on Saturday.  It's also good to have Andrew Smith back with us, as "Smitty" has returned from his freshman year at the University of Tennessee.