By By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
March 23, 2002
Newton High took advantage of Clarkdale's fielding errors and got good pitching from Lucas Poole to win a key Division 5-2A baseball game Friday night 12-0.
The Tigers scored five runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to beat the Bulldogs by the 10-run rule in five innings.
The Bulldogs gave up seven hits, but made nine errors in five innings to help the Tigers put 12 runs on the board.
Newton got on the board early in the game as it scored two runs in the top of the first inning. Jeremy Tune started the game off with a walk and moved to third on a single by Zack Logan. Tune scored later in the inning on a wild pitch and Logan was able to move to third. Poole grounded out to knock in Logan and give the Tigers an early 2-0 lead.
The Tigers blew the game open in the fourth inning as they scored five runs. Dusty Hines singled to start the inning and stole second to get into scoring position. Cody Savell reached on an infield hit. Sam Thames bunted Savell over to second and Morgan Craven singled in Hines to make the score 3-0. Craven then stole second and the throw from the catcher went into the outfield allowing Savell to score from third. An error allowed Tune to get on base and brought in Craven to make the score 5-0. Tune stole second and moved to third on an infield hit by Logan.
Logan was then picked off base but the throw from the first baseman was off line allowing Logan to reach second and allowing Tune to score. Logan later moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on another Clarkdale error to make the score 7-0 after three and a half innings.
Clarkdale had its best chance to score in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jeffery Stokes drew a two-out walk and moved to third on a single by Justin Hinson. Alex Taylor walked to load the bases but Poole got out of the inning as he got the next batter to ground out.
Newton finished the Bulldogs off in the fifth inning. Hines walked and Savell reached on an error. Thames walked to load the bases. Craven followed with grand-slam homer to left field to make the score 11-0. The Tigers added another run in the inning and held on for the 10-run rule.
Poole went four innings and struck out seven batters to pick up the win. Brewer took pitched five innings and also struck out seven but picked up the tough loss.
The Tigers move to 9-3 on the season and 3-0 in division play. They will host Philadelphia at 4 p.m. today. The Bulldogs fall to 6-10 on the season and 1-1 in division. They will host West Lauderdale at noon and travel to play Lake at 4:30 today.