DAHLONEGA — The West Hall baseball remains red-hot coming down the stretch.
The Spartans completed a three-game sweep of Lumpkin County Friday, taking 11-6 and 4-2 wins on the road.
The wins moved West Hall (15-8, 9-6 Region 7-AAA) into sole possession of third place, just one game behind Dawson County (16-7, 10-5) in the region standings. The Spartans have won 7 of the their last 8 games overall. The Spartans won their series with Dawson County and own the head-to-head tiebreaker in the event of a tie.
In the first game, West Hall got a stellar relief appearance from Tanner Ahmad, who went five innings allowing no runs for the win after Lumpkin County touched Charlie Cochran for six runs in two innings.
Brian Newman, Jeffrey Jenkins, Carter Lott, Merritt Gazaway, Cole Wilson, and Cam Shirley each had two hits for the West Hall offense. Newman, Jenkins, Gazaway, and Shirley each had two RBI in the game.
In the second, game Jenkins pitched a complete-game, five-hitter allowing just two runs while striking out four to get the win.
Erik Ayala had a big game with two hits and two RBI and scored a run. Jenkins and Shirley also had two hits in the game.
Lumpkin County (11-11, 6-9) has lost three straight and four of six to drop into a tie for fourth with Banks County (9-13, 6-9) which finished off a sweep of East Hall on Friday.
West Hall will close out its season against Banks County beginning Tuesday in Oakwood. The two teams will play a doubleheader next Friday to close out the regular season.
Lumpkin County will take on rival Dawson County in a three-game series beginning Tuesday in Dahlonega. The series will move to Dawsonville on Friday for a doubleheader close out the season.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/4/388777/baseball-spartans-stay-hot-sweep-lumpkin-in-key-7-aaa-series