7 run 3rd inning leads Dragons past Murray County

PHS Baseball, Team FYN Sports

Pickens County, Ga — It was a baseball filled Saturday in Jasper as the Pickens Dragons (5-0) welcomed the Murray County Indians (4-3) to Dunn Field for a mid-morning tilt. Coming into the game, the Dragons were undefeated and looking to continue their fast start to the early season. The Indians of Murray County came in winners of two straight after shutting out Osborne and defeating Gordon Central by a run. A big bottom of the 3rd for the Dragons broke things open as Pickens defeated the Indians, 14-4 in 5 innings.

 

In the top of the first, the Indians plated two runs on 2 hits to take an early 2-0 lead. The Dragons, came back in the bottom of the first and were able to cut the Murray County lead in half after Anthony Antinozzi drew a 1-out walk, and Hunter White drove him in with an RBI single. We would head to the second, with the Indians ahead of the Dragons, 2-1.

 

After issuing a lead off walk to start the second inning, Dragons starter Jackson Moore settled down by picking up his second strikeout and sending us to the bottom of the frame. In the bottom of the second, the Dragons scored 4 runs after a 1-out, 2-run double by James Tilley, and an RBI single from Connor Shouse. Shouse stole 2nd and 3rd base, then scored after Antinozzi reached on an error. Going to the third, Pickens led the Indians, 5-2.

 

In the top of the third, Murray County threatened to cut into the Dragon lead, but Moore, along with JP Nunn, who came on in relief of Moore, held the Indians to just one run. Going to the bottom of the 3rd, the Dragons led the Indians, 5-3. In the bottom of the inning, Pickens, batted around and scored 7 runs to break things open. Going to the 4th, the Dragons held a 12-3 lead.

 

In the top of the 4th, Tilley came on in relief of Nunn for the Dragons. Tilley would give up 1 hit in the top of the frame, but that would be it. Going to the bottom of the inning, Pickens led Murray County, 12-3. In the bottom of the 4th, Tilley reached on an error, and would later score after back to back hits from Shouse and Antinozzi to make it 13-3 Dragons going to the 5th.

 

In the top of the 5th, the Indians were able to plate a run to make it 13-4 as we would head to the bottom of the inning. In the bottom of the 5th, the Dragons plated a run, and to put an end to this one to give Pickens their 5th win of the season. Final score, Pickens 14 Murray County 4 in 5 innings.

 

 

 

Dragons stay hot to open the season, defeat Bobcats

PHS Baseball, Team FYN Sports

Pickens, County Ga — The Pickens Dragons baseball team (4-0) have started the 2021 season off on an exciting note. They opened the season with an 8-7 comeback win at Dawson on February 17th. The Dragons again defeated the Tigers at home, 10-7 on February 18th. On Tuesday, February 23rd, the Dragons traveled to Lumpkin and defeated the Indians, 16-7. On Thursday, February 25th, Pickens welcomed their rival, the Gilmer Bobcats (1-3), to Dunn Field for a non-region contest. This game, was originally scheduled for Friday, but was moved up due to impending weather. The Dragons kept their hot start to the season going with a 13-3 win over the Bobcats in 5 innings.

 

In the top of the first inning, the Bobcats were unable to take advantage of two Dragon errors as Dragons starter Seth Densmore forced a ground out to send us to the bottom of the inning. In the bottom of the first, Connor Shouse led off with a walk, Anthony Antinozzi reached on an error, Hunter White drove in Shouse with a single, Densmore drove in Antinozzi and White with a double, Drake Sutton walked, Jarod Whitmore drove in courtesy runner Parker Rhodes and Sutton with a 2 RBI ground rule double, and Trace Ledbetter drove in Whitmore. Going to the  2nd, the Dragons led the Bobcats, 6-0.

 

In the top of the 2nd inning, Brock Titus led off with a double for the Bobcats. With 1 out and the bases loaded, Densmore got out of the jam by striking out the batter for the second out, and picking off the runner at 2nd to send us to the bottom of the frame. In the bottom of the 2nd, Antinozzi led off with a walk, White followed with a double, Densmore drove in Antinozzi on a ground out,  and Sutton drove in White with another grounder. Going to the 3rd, Pickens led Gilmer, 8-0.

 

In the top of the 3rd, Jess Buckner led off with a single, Spencer Merritt drove in Buckner with a single, Titus then drove in Merritt with a single. A 3rd run came across to score after Seth Darling was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The Bobcats were looking for more, but a Kobe Stonecipher line drive was caught by James Tilley to send us to the bottom of the 3rd with the Dragons ahead, 8-3. In the bottom of the 3rd, after a 1-out single by Tilley, Shouse reached on a fielders choice, Antiozzi walked, then White walked to bring in Tilley. Densmore, drove in Shouse and Antinozzi with a double, and Sutton brought in White after a grounder to make it 12-3 Dragons going to the 4th.

 

JP Nunn came on in relief of Densmore in the top of the 4th for the Dragons and pitched well. Nunn collected a strikeout, and got the Bobcats to fly out to Rhodes on consecutive at bats to send us to the bottom of the inning. Pickens, looked to add to their lead in the bottom of the 4th, but left two runners stranded as we would head to the top of the 5th, still 12-3 Dragons.

 

Nunn needed just three pitches to get out of the top of the 5th as he induced a line out to Tilley, a grounder to Tilley, and a fly out to left field on consecutive pitches to send us to the bottom of the 5th. Rhodes got things started with a 1-out single, Nunn followed that with a single, Harlan Will got hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Whitmore drove in Rhodes to give the Dragons the 13-3 win over the Bobcats in 5 innings.

 

Dragons Stats:

Connor Shouse: 1 walk, 2 runs scored

Anthony Antinozzi: 2 walks, 3 runs scored

Hunter White: 2-2 with a single, a double, a walk, 1 RBI, & 2 runs scored

Parker Rhodes: 1-1 with a single & 2 runs scored

Seth Densmore: 2-2 with 2 doubles, & 3 RBI & 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 K, 1 walk

JP Nunn: 1-1 with a single & 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 walks, 1 K

Drake Sutton: 1 walk, 2 RBI, & 1 run scored

Jarod Whitmore: 2-4 with a double, a single, 3 RBI, & 1 run scored

Trace Ledbetter: 1-2 with a single, a walk, & 1 RBI

Trey Payne: 1 single

James Tilley: 1-2 with a single, a walk, & 1 run scored

 

The Dragons, will be back on the diamond on Saturday as they host the Murray County Indians and the Wheeler Wildcats. The baseball filled day starts off with Dragons taking on Murray County at 10 am. Murray will then turn around and play the Lumpkin County Indians at 12:30. Lumpkin, will then play Wheeler at 3. The final game will see the Dragons take on the Wildcats at 5:30.

Dragons split doubleheader with Dalton

PHS Baseball, Sports, Team FYN Sports

After defeating the Lumpkin County Indians on Friday 5-2, the Pickens Dragons welcomed the Dalton Catamounts, a 6A school to Pickens High School for a doubleheader. This was originally scheduled to be a four game day with Dominion Christian joining in but they had to drop out due to a sporting conflict. In a great afternoon of baseball, Dalton took game one, 6-1, and the Dragons took game two, 8-5.

Game one:

In the top of the 1st inning, Dalton looked to get on the board early with two hits and runners on first and third. Dragons starter Alex Snelgrove was able to work around the jam and send the Dragons up in the bottom of the frame. Coastal Carolina signee Brady Moore led off with a triple and Hunter White drove him in. After a two-out double by Chad Pacas and a walk by Austin Chester, the Catamounts were able to get out of a jam themselves and send us to the second, Dragons up, 1-0.

Alex Snelgrove pitching for the Dragons

Pickens held that 1-0 lead till the top of the fourth inning as Dalton would hit a 2-run home run to take a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the frame, Seth Densmore picked up a 2-out single, but that would be all as we would head to the fifth, Catamounts now on top, 2-1.

In the top of the sixth inning, Dalton added to their lead with four runs. Half of those runs came on another 2-run home run. Chester drew his second walk of the game in the bottom of the inning, but again, Dalton got out of it and we headed to the seventh, Catamounts up 6-1.

Hunter White at the plate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the top of the seventh, Dalton looked to really blow it open as they had the bases loaded. Pacas, making his season debut on the mound, got out of the huge jam without giving up anything to send us to the bottom of the frame. Snelgrove drew a walk to start the bottom of the seventh and Moore drew a 2-out walk, but that would be it as the Catamounts took game one, 6-1.

Stats:

Brady Moore: 1-2 with a double, two walks, and one run scored

Hunter White: one RBI

Chad Pacas: 1-3 with a double

Austin Chester: two walks

Seth Densmore: 1-3 with a single

Alex Snelgrove: one walk

Game two:

Much like the Dragons in game one, Dalton started off the top of the first in game two with a triple. The Catamounts cashed in that lead off triple and took a 1-0 lead going to the bottom of the inning. Brady Moore led off with a walk, Hunter White followed with a walk, Moore advanced to third on a wild pitch, Chad Pacas got hit by a pitch, and Austin Chester drove in Moore with an RBI single to tie things up at 1-1 going to the second.

Tyler Vreeland batting for Pickens

In the bottom of the third, Pickens added to their lead after both White and Tyler Vreeland scored on a pair of wild pitches to make it 3-1. Seth Densmore drove in Pacas with a 2-out RBI single to make it 4-1 Dragons going to the fourth.

In the top of the fourth, Dragons starting pitcher Colby James continued his great outing with a 9-pitch fourth inning. In the bottom of the frame, Pickens had four straight 1-out hits as White drove in Moore with an RBI single, and Pacas plated White and Vreeland with a 2-RBI double. Going to the top of the fifth, the Dragons led Dalton 7-1.

Colby James pitching in game two

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After nothing doing for either team in the fifth, the Catamounts cut into the Dragons lead with a three run inning including a solo home run to make it 7-4 Pickens. The Dragons got one run back in the bottom of the frame as Pacas drove in Vreeland with an RBI single to make it 8-4 going to the seventh.

In the top of the seventh, Dalton again was threatening as they had already plated one run to make it 8-5, and had runners at first and third with the potential tying run up. Moore came in and closed it out with a strikeout to give the Dragons the win in game two, 8-5.

Stats:

Brady Moore: 1-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs scored

Hunter White: 1-1 with a single, three walks, and two runs scored

Tyler Vreeland: 3-4 with two singles, one double, one RBI, and three runs scored

Chad Pacas: 2-2 with one double, one single, one hit-by-pitch, three RBI, and one run scored

Austin Chester: 1-1 with one single, two walks, one hit-by-pitch, and one RBI

Seth Densmore: 1-3 with a single and a walk

The Dragons are now 6-1 on the season after this week’s set of games. They have another full slate of games coming up next week as they will host the Sonoraville Phoenix on Tuesday, travel to Sonoraville on Thursday, and head to Murray County to take on the Indians on Saturday. Both games against Sonoraville will have a 5:30 first pitch time. The game against Murray County has a 1 pm first pitch time.

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