Season Ends for Wolverines
By EDDY GIFFORD
Sports Writer
Photo by Eddy Gifford – The Wolverines’ Caleb Massey lines a hit in recent action for the baseball team. The team ended their season last week at Armuchee. Expectations are high for next season as the entire team will be returning.
The Dade County High School Wolverine baseball team traveled to Armuchee on Tuesday, April 18, to face the Indians in the first game of their final three game series of the season and came away with a disappointing 8-7 loss.
After a scoreless first inning, Dade County scored the first run of the game in the top of the second to take the lead. The Indians tied the game in the bottom of the second with a run of their own.
The third and fourth innings produced plenty of action as both teams scored two runs in the third and three runs each in the fourth as the game remained tied, 6-6.
Things settled down in the fifth and sixth innings as both teams went scoreless and the game remained tied 6-6 heading into the seventh inning.
In the top of the seventh the Wolverines push a run across on a single by Caleb Massey, a walk to Eli Kimball, and a single by Bryson Shrader to take the lead, 7-6.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Indians get back-to-back singles to start the inning, and an intentional walk loaded the bases with no outs.
Another single tied the game 7-7, and then a fielder’s choice scored another run to put Armuchee on top and end the game, 8-7.
Massey and Bryson Shrader led DCHS with two hits each with Massey also having three RBI’s in the game. The Wolverines out hit the Indians 10-8 but could not pull out the win.
Mason Gatlin took the loss, pitching six innings, giving up eight hits and eight runs, six earned, walking two, and striking out two in one of his best outings of the season.
On Thursday, Armuchee traveled to Trenton to face the Wolverines in game two of the series.
Dade got off to a fast start, scoring a pair of first inning runs to take the early lead, 2-0.
The Indians answered with a run in the second, but Dade scored two in the bottom of the second to take a 4-1 lead.
Armuchee would tie the game in the top of the third with three runs to make it a 4-4 game after the Wolverines went scoreless in the bottom of the third.
A scoreless fourth inning led to a big fifth inning by both teams as the Indians put up three runs in the top of the inning and the Wolverines answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. The game remained tied, 7-7, after five innings of play.
In the top of the sixth, the Indians scored three runs to take the lead 10-7. Dade County was unable to answer this time and the Indians came away with another win, this time 10-7.
Armuchee out hit the Wolverines 15 to 13, but Dade committed nine errors in the game, resulting in five unearned runs.
Landon Williams and Massey led the Wolverines at the plate with three hits each with Massey also picking up three RBI’s. Gatlin and Braydan Jones had two hits each.
Williams took the loss in relief, pitching three innings, giving up six runs, three earned, and striking out three. River McBryar pitched the first four innings, giving up four runs, two earned, and striking out three.
The final game of the series and Dade’s final game of the season took place on Friday, April 21, at Armuchee.
The Indians took the lead in the bottom of the first inning when they pushed one run across.
With Armuchee still leading 1-0, the Wolverines scored a run in the top of the third to tie the game 1-1.
In the bottom of the third, the Indians scored four runs to take the lead 5-1.
After the Indians added another run in the fifth inning, the Wolverines tried to rally back from the 6-1 deficit and pushed across three runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 6-4, but that was all they would get as the Indian pitching shut them down the rest of the way.
Gatlin led the Wolverines with two hits while Jax Guinn pitched five strong innings giving up six runs, only four earned, suffered the loss.
Jake Harris pitched one inning of relief giving up just one hits.
The Wolverines ended the season with an overall record of 9-19 and finished region play with a 4-14 record.
Pepperell took the region championship with a 15-3 region record followed by Darlington, Armuchee, and Trion, the four teams advancing to the state tournament that started this week.