RABBITTOWN — In the midst of a four-game losing streak, the East Hall baseball team was watching its season, and playoff chances, slowly slip away in Region 7-AAA.
And for five-plus innings on Tuesday things were looking grim indeed in a crucial region matchup with Lumpkin County at East Hall Park -- until a late surge provided a lifeline for the Vikings in a dramatic 6-4 win.
East Hall pitching held a potent Indians offense to just one hit through the first six innings but a series of defensive miscues and one controversial overturned call saw Lumpkin County take a 4-3 lead into the sixth inning. Jonah Crocker and Eli Stuart, however, provided the catalyst for a stunning sixth-inning turnaround.
The two teams will move the series to Dahlonega on Friday for a doubleheader.
Crocker tossed 5 innings of one-hit ball and struck out six while Stuart shook off an 0-for-3 beginning to pull off a perfect suicide squeeze combined with a Lumpkin County throwing error to plate the go-ahead runs.
“It was a huge win for us,” Crocker said. “We felt like we needed at least two wins in the series to get back in (the playoff race). Now we need to go get one (in Dahlonega).”
East Hall coach Wesley Crow said they may still need to think bigger.
“In my mind we really need to try and get both games up there,” he said. “This was a must-win for us if we wanted to have any chance with so many teams bunched together.
“Jonah was huge for us and the squeeze was a called play and Eli executed it perfectly. We needed a game like this after losing some tough ones in some strange ways. It was a mental breath of fresh air for us.”
The Vikings (9-8, 4-6 Region 7-AAA) trailed Lumpkin County (9-8, 4-6) by a game and sat one-half game behind West Hall (8-6, 2-4) coming into Tuesday’s action.
West Hall opened a three-game series with Fannin County on Tuesday in Blue Ridge. The Spartans (8-6, 2-5) fell 8-5 to the Rebels (7-7, 3-4) who took over third place with the victory. They will play a doubleheader Friday in Oakwood.
All four teams trailed region unbeatens Franklin County and Dawson County, who both were four games ahead of the pack before Tuesday. Those two teams opened a three-game series in Carnesville, with the Lions rallying for a 7-5 win to take sole possession of first place..
“Franklin and Dawson have separated themselves so every game between everyone else is even bigger because really we’re all playing for just two spots,” Crow said.
The beginning and the end were great for East Hall. The Indians controlled the middle.
East Hall starter Luke Cooper struck out two in the top of a 1-2-3 first inning and then the Vikings offense quickly went to work in the bottom of the inning against Lumpkin County starter Julio Romero. Levi Crocker, Trevor Rider, and Mike Matuska had consecutive one-out RBI singles as part of four straight hits to give East Hall a 3-0 lead after the first inning.
The Lumpkin offense, however, responded in the second taking advantage of four Cooper walks, a hit batter, one big error, while managing just one hit that opened the door for three runs, but just one earned, to tie the game at 3.
Romero settled down after yielding a leadoff walk to Isaac Buffington in the second. Romero retired the next six batters while the Lumpkin offense continued to take advantage of East Hall mistakes.
Cooper was replaced to start the third by Jonah Crocker, who gave up an unearned run in the third as the Indians took a 4-3 lead on a disputed call at first base that plated Wil Pence. Both teams had left the field but the umpires overturned an inning-ending out at first and awarded the Indians with the go-ahead run.
Romero was taken out in the fourth after a leadoff walk to Jonah Crocker and Zack Samples was able to get out the inning with a sacrifice, a pop to first, and a strikeout. The pair retired 11 of 12 East Hall batters until Levi Crocker singled with two out in the bottom of the fifth. Crocker stole second and third but was left stranded.
Jonah Crocker gave the Vikings a chance holding Lumpkin County to just one hit and retired nine of 10 batters through the sixth inning.
After a one-out single by Cole Smith in the bottom of the sixth, Sebastian Dunn took over for Samples. But, Dunn walked J.B. Banks and then balked Smith and Banks to second and third.
Stuart dropped down a perfect squeeze bunt scoring Smith and Banks came around to score on a throwing error trying to get Stuart at first to give East Hall a 5-4 lead. Stuart stole second and then scored on a RBI single by Luke Cooper to make it 6-4.
Jonah Crocker closed out the game with a scoreless seventh to get the win.
“It felt good to help the team. I was struggling earlier in the year and hopefully this will get us going on a roll,” Crocker said.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/3/381157/baseball-late-rally-keeps-vikings-season-alive