RABBITTOWN -- The game plan was simple for the Lumpkin County baseball team.
Get on base, use its speed, and get some timely hits.
The Indians executed it to perfection in an 11-6 win over East Hall Tuesday at East Hall Park in a battle for second place in Region 7-AAA.
Lumpkin County had seven hits and four walks, stole six bases, and went 4-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The Indians, however, were a sizzling 4-for-9 in the first two innings as they built a 9-0 lead. It also didn’t hurt that the Vikings committed four errors in the first two frames as well.
“We talked about just finding ways on base and then using our speed to put pressure on the defense,” Lumpkin County coach Dustin Allen said. “The guys put the ball in play and when you do that anything can happen.”
The game had huge playoff implications for both teams. An East Hall win and the Vikings (13-11, 11-6 Region 7-AAA) would clinch second place by virtue of head-to-head play. The Indians (14-8, 11-5) needed a win to keep pace. One win over their final two games would give them second place heading into next week’s Class AAA playoffs.
“Everyone knew there was a lot of parity in the region so every game is important,” Allen said. “We still need one more but this was a big win for us.”
Lumpkin County travels to West Hall on Wednesday and closes out the regular season at home against Dawson County on Friday.
East Hall, however, did not go away despite the rough start. The Vikings answered back in the bottom of the second with five runs on five hits, knocking out Indians’ starter Joel Crotzer after just one-plus innings.
That proved to be the a blessing in disguise for Lumpkin County. Cody Waters came on and after allowing a two-run double to Jonah Crocker to make it a 9-5 lead, he retired nine of the next 10 batters into the sixth inning to shut down the East Hall attack.
“I was throwing it pretty well and it feels good knowing we had to win this one and I was able to help,” Waters said.
The senior right-hander allowed two hits in the sixth but got out of trouble and gave up four straight hits in the seventh allowing run and bringing the tying run to the on-deck circle with no one out.
Allen came to the mound seemingly ready to make the change. Waters convinced him otherwise.
“I told coach to let me finish it,” Waters said. “I wasn’t coming out of the game.”
He got Eli Stuart on a pop up and then Cole Smith flied out to right to end the game.
“Cody has been in the spot before and had the experience so we decided to stay with him,” Allen said. “He has been out No. 1 guy all year and he pitched a great game once he got in there.”
The Indians got going quickly against East Hall starter Jonah Crocker. After Gunnar Wood reached on an error and later scored on a passed ball, Derek Disanto ripped a two-out, two-RBI double down the left field line scoring Timme Summersett and Ben Brown for a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
The Vikings went quickly in the bottom of the inning and then Lumpkin County went to work again in the second taking advantage of a shaky East Hall defense. The Indians stroked four singles to go with three big East Hall errors. Wood had a two-run single and Disanto added an RBI single as they plated six -- only three earned -- to pull away for a 9-0 lead and chasing Crocker for Cole Smith.
East Hall, however, finally got its offense going. The first five batters reached to start the second with Ronnie Peebles and Jeremy Walls getting RBI singles to knock out Crotzer. Jack Hagwood added a sacrifice fly scoring Smith and Jonah Crocker capped the inning against Waters with a two-run double to pull the Vikings within 9-5..
It then became a battle of bullpens. Both Smith and Waters took control.
Smith retired 10 of 11 batters allowing just one walk and one run through the fifth inning. After Crocker’s big hit, Waters retired nine of 10 batters into the sixth. Levi Crocker pitched the final two innings for East Hall and struck out one and did not allow a hit or walk.
Smith ran into trouble in the sixth with another East Hall error to go with a Wood double and a walk to Summersett to load the bases with no outs giving way to Levi Crocker.
Levi Crocker got out of the jam allowing just a sacrifice fly to Brown scoring Sebastian Dunn as the Indians pushed their lead to 11-5.
For Lumpkin County, Wood and Disanto had two hits each. Disanto finished with three RBI and Wood and Brown had two RBI apiece for the Indians.
For East Hall, only Hagwood did not register a hit but he had one RBI on a sacrifice fly. Levi Crocker had three hits and one RBI, Jonah Crocker had two hits, and Jesse Cooper, Hunter Strange, Stuart, Smith, Peebles, and Walls all had one hit apiece.
The Vikings will close out their season Wednesday at home against Banks County. They can still finish second with a win and if Lumpkin County drops its final two games of the season. They can finish no worse than third.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/4/305146/baseball-indians-pound-out-win-over-east-hall-take-over-2nd-in-7-aaa