Staff Report
Ware County’s junior varsity baseball Gators won one game and tied another in a home-and-home series with Appling County.
The Gators (3-2-1) climbed above .500 for the first time blanking the visiting Pirates 6-0 Monday, February 24. The two teams battled to a wild 9-all tie Wednesday, February 26 in Baxley.
Ware County hosted Tattnall County Monday, March 3. The Gators travel today (Wednesday, March 5) to Reidsville for a 5 p.m. start.
Toombs County visits Monday, March 10 for a doubleheader with Game 1 slated for 4 p.m. Lowndes comes to town Wednesday, March 12 for a 5 p.m. first pitch.
Gators..................6 Appling Co...........0
A four-run first inning was more than enough for Ware County as Trace Crosby and Asher Lee teamed up for a three-hit shutout of the Pirates.
Crosby tossed five innings of three-hit baseball with five strikeouts and a walk needing just 57 pitches. Lee worked two innings of hitless relief fanning five and walking one.
Ware County managed just two hits against Appling County’s Jon Hayden Wheeler and Devin Wilcox. Tanner Lairsey (1-for-3) and Eli Watkin (1-for-2) collected the Gators’ hits.
The four-run first was set up by a leadoff walk to Zeke Gillis and aided by two two-out Appling County errors. Gillis scored from second on a two-out passed.
A walk to Keaton Holloway was followed by consecutive errors on balls hit Colt Cox and Chaden Carter scoring three runs.
Ware County plated single runs in the fifth and sixth inning to build a 6-0 lead. Watkin led off the fifth with a base hit, moved to second on a groundout and to third on a passed ball. He scored on a passed ball.
Isaiah White and Holloway were hit to start the sixth. White came around to score from second on a twoout passed ball.
Gators .................9 Appling Co. .........9
BAXLEY — Host Appling County scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the Gators capping a five-run comeback.
The Gators scored their first run in the second inning on a two-out, bloop single by Brodie Burchett (2-for-3). Jayce Pearson (1-for-3) was hit by a one-out pitch, stole second and raced home on Burchett’s base hit to center.
Ware County plated three runs in the third inning stretching the lead to 4-0. Lairsey’s (3-for-4) two-out started a string of five consecutive batters reach.
Ryder Kinnon (1-for-1) followed with a walk after a wild pitch moved Lairsey’s courtesy runner to third. After a passed ball scored one and moved Kinnon into scoring positition, Crosby (1-for-4) ripped a run-scoring double for a 3-0 lead. Pearson followed Carter getting hit by a pitch with a run-scoring hit.
The Gators extended the lead to 5-0 in the top of the fourth. Lee (2-for-3) legged out a one-out double, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a wild pitch.
Appling County scored its first run in the bottom of the fourth against Lucas Howard (5 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 5 K, 1 BB, 2 WP).
Ware County scored a run in the fifth to regain a fiverun margin. Lairsey ripped a leadoff double with Kinnon and Carter sandwiching walks around the first out. An error on a ball hit by Pearson scored Lairsey.
The Pirates chased home five runs in the bottom half of the inning to even the score at 6-apiece.
The Gators responded with three runs in the top of the sixth to forge ahead 9-6. Lee reached on a one-out, infield hit ahead of Howard’s (1-for-3) double. Lairsey’s triple plated both Lee and Howard for an 8-6 lead. Kinnon followed with a base hit driving home Lairsey.
Appling plated a run in the bottom of the sixth on a one-out single against Lee (2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 K, 2 BB, 1 HBP). Consecutive one-out, run-scoring singles in the bottom of the seventh tied the game at 9-all.
