By Lonnie Turner
Only Minor League games have been played since last Tuesday in the Dillon Kiwanis Dixie Youth Baseball Program.
On Tuesday, the Physicians Healthcare Pirates, coupled with an 11-3 win over the Burger King Braves and a 6-5 upset loss by the McLeod Health Marlins to the True Value Tigers, gained a complete game lead over the second place Marlins.
While the Pirates were totaling 13 base hits, Jared Darmon and Noah Carter combined to throw a 3-hitter against the Braves. Five Pirates had two hits apiece, including Carter (double, single, rbi), Darmon (double, single, two rbi), Trent McNeill (two singles, rbi), Josh Brown (two singles, two rbi), and Nathan Hyler (double, single, rbi). Others hitting safely were Carson Sloan with a double, and Quamez Graves and Aaren Clewis who each contributed singles.
Davis Lockamy’s fifth inning inside the park home run drove in all three runs for the Braves and Barnes Causey singled in the same inning. Zach Wilkes had the 13th hit in the fourth, a single.
In the second game, the Marlins jumped out to an early 4-0 lead over the Tigers in the first on a triple by Chandler Matthews, a double by Knox Jackson and a single by Collin Hamilton, but the Tigers bounced back to tie the game in the third. Chase Dudney hit a two-run double to highlight the rally and Heath Brown added a single. Zavian Tyson and Quamari McIver walked and scored the final two runs for the Tigers in the fourth and fifth innings to go up 6-4. Jackson hit a 2-out single for the Marlins and scored on a throwing error. Chandler Matthews singled, but was caught in a run-down for the final out.
For the second straight night, there was an 8-inning, 1-0 game played on Ray Wilson field. The Palmetto Lady Mustangs defeated the Dillon Lady Cats with a home run in the top of the eighth in Monday’s first game of the State 2A Championship Series, and last night Collin Hamilton singled and scored the only run when Knox Jackson’s single up the middle careened off the second base bag and rolled into left field. Tristian Brigman walked Jacob Kale to lead off the bottom of the inning, but struck out the next two batters and recorded the final out when Malachi Bember hit a line drive to him on the mound.
Cooper Lane and Barnes Causey had three hits apiece in a losing cause and Bember and Davis Lockamy added singles in the game. Jackson and Trent Johnson had two hits each for the Marlins in addition to Hamilton’s single.
The second game on Tuesday was suspended in the bottom of the second inning due to lightning in the area. The True Value Tigers had a 3-1 lead over the Pepsi-Cola Blue Jays after scoring three runs in the bottom of the first without the benefit of a base hit. The game will be finished at 9 o’clock Saturday morning.
