GAINESVILLE, Ga. – The fourth-ranked North Hall baseball team dropped the final game of its Region 6-3A series with No. 2 Pickens 6-3 at Lynn Cottrell Field on Friday.
Looking at the big picture, the Trojans (9-4, 5-1 Region 6-3A) won two of three in the series. However, they are still tied with Dawson County (10-5, 5-1 Region 6-3A) for first place after the Tigers dropped their final game with White County, 9-4, on Friday.
“We control our future,” North Hall coach Trevor Flow said. “We’ve played pretty well. I feel like we didn’t play well today. Baseball is very frustrating but if we continue winning series, in the end, we’ll be in a good spot.”
The Trojans rallied from early deficits to win each of the first two games 3-2, but when Pickens (12-3, 4-2 Region 6-3A) took an early 5-0 lead Friday night, the Dragons did not give up the advantage.
“Those first two innings we did a lot of uncharacteristic things,” Flow said. “They put up that crooked number and we didn’t come back. It was one of those games in baseball you kind of want to forget and move on.”
The Dragons took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an error then added four more runs in the second inning for a 5-0 lead. A.J. Rice, who was 3-for-4, drove in a run with a single. Christian Starks’ sacrifice fly scored a run, and Cade Sutton drove in another with a single. The final run came in on the second Trojans’ error.
In their half of the second inning, the Trojans used two hit batsmen, a walk, and a single to cut the lead to 5-3. North Hall shortstop Mills Lothridge knocked in Thomas Davis and Custis Honeycutt. Cole Cable scored on a wild pitch.
Both starting pitchers settled in at that point. Pickens starter Starks completed six innings and retired 12 of the last 14 batters he faced, allowing just two hits and striking out seven.
North Hall starter Jake Beard pitched six innings, allowing no runs and one hit over his final four innings.
“He battled through,” Flow said. “I was going to leave him out there to see if he would bow his back and he did. I was proud of him. He did a good job.”
The loss snapped North Hall’s six-game winning streak. The Trojans continue region play next week with a three-game series with White County that starts on Tuesday in Cleveland.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2025/3/1289473/baseball-north-hall-falls-to-pickens-in-series-finale