By Lonnie Turner
The red hot Cotton’s Grocery Reds have won their last four games to move into second place, one game behind the first half Champion Dillon Dental Giants in the Dillon Kiwanis Dixie Youth Baseball Major League with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
The Reds (7-3) and Giants (8-2) will meet in a showdown this coming Thursday starting at 8:15. The Rangers (6-4) lost two of their last four games to drop two games back of the front-running Giants and a game behind the Reds.
After ten games, the individual leaders in the batting race are (1) Ray-Ray McGirt (0.652), Giants; (2) Jon-Mitchell Carter (0.560), Reds; (3) Ian Patterson (0.458), Yankees; (4) Rameer Sowells (0.407), Giants; and (5) Ryan Stephens (0.400), Yankees.
McGirt leads in the pitching stats with a 5-0 record and an earned run average of 1.16. He leads the league with 85 strikeouts and has allowed only four hits through 31 innings. Second on the list is the Reds’ Noah Henderson, who is 2-0 through 10 innings and is yet to allow an earned run. Rounding out the top five are (3) Michael Minges (4-1, era 2.08) also of the Reds; and tied for fourth place are Ereck Eck of the Rangers (3-1, era 1.60) and Scotty Sweat of the Giants (3-1, era 3.71). Dawson Dove of the Hurricanes makes the top five with a 2-1 record and an era of 3.11.
In the Minor League, the Physicians Healthcare Pirates, winners of the first half of the season, have lost only once in 11 games and hold on to a two game lead over the McLeod Health Marlins (8-3). Jared Darmon is 9-0 on the mound for the Pirates and is leading the League in the chase for the batting championship with a 0.667 batting average. He has struck out 80 batters in 32 innings and has allowed only five earned runs for an earned run average of 0.94 per six innings pitched.
The next four top batters in the League are (2) Barnes Causey (0.600) of the Burger King Braves; (3) Knox Jackson (0.571) of the Marlins; (4) Noah Carter (0.517) of the Pirates and (5) Cooper Lane (0.500) of the Braves.
Trent Johnson is second in pitching with a 2-0 record for the Marlins and has a 1.89 earned run average. Marlins hurlers Tristian Brigman (5-2, era 1.71) and Collin Hamilton (1-1, era 3.00) are third and fourth and tied for fifth are Davis Lockamy of the Braves and the Pepsi-Cola Blue Jays’ Chris Hunt with 2-2 records. Lockamy has a 2.00 e.r.a. and Hunt has an earned run average of 4.50.
Minor League Summary
Wednesday, May 16
Burger King 7, Pepsi-Cola 4
The Braves scored two runs in the first inning, three in the third, and two more in the fifth to defeat the Blue Jays. The Jays put up a two-run rally in the bottom of the last inning, but came up three runs short of overtaking the Braves.
In a losing cause, the Blue Jays pounded out eight hits, while Chris Hunt allowed only three, but issued 10 free passes. He struck out 14 in five innings. Malachi Bember, Cooper Lane and Barnes Causey collected the hits for the winners, while three Blue Jays went 2-for-3, including Caleb Boykin, Hunt, and Jon-Michael Davis. Nick Evans added an RBI triple and Charlie Nash Collins drove him home with a single.
Over three inches of rain last Thursday evening caused a postponement of all three games, scheduled to be played Saturday.
Friday, May 18
Physicians Healthcare 9, McLeod Health 8
In a battle between the two front-runners in the Minors, the Pirates out-lasted the Marlins in five innings to take a hard-earned 9-8 victory.
After Jared Darmon and Chandler Matthews scored unearned runs for each team to tie going into the second inning, Noah Carter slapped a two-run triple down the right field line to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead. Jared Ivey was hit by a pitch and both scored on an overthrow to take a 5-1 lead, but here came the Marlins back in the bottom of the inning with three runs on a bases loaded three-bagger by Knox Jackson to cut the lead to 5-4.
The Pirates scored another run in the third when Nathan Hyler reached first on an error, went to third on a wild pitch and stole home for a two-run lead. Chandler Matthews led off the Marlins third with a walk and Collin Hamilton drove him home with a single. Jamarius Bethea tripled Hamilton home and stole home to take a 7-6 lead.
After the Marlins held the Pirates for no runs in the fourth, back to back doubles from Aaron Clewis and Carter and another by Darmon resulted in three runs in the top of the fifth and a 9-7 lead. Bethea managed to get on in the Marlins’ half of the inning on a walk and scored on an overthrow to the outfield on a stolen base attempt to third. Darmon forced Keith Rippy to bounce out to second and got the last batter on strikes to record the win.
Carter led the winners with his two extra base hits and Darmon also doubled twice in four trips to the plate. Trent McNeill and Quamez Graves also contributed with a hit apiece for the winners. Hamilton led the Marlins with two hits.
