Benjamin Russell bounces Demopolis from playoffs

Demopolis (14-13) saw its season come to an end Friday with a 4-1 loss to Benjamin Russell (25-10) in game two of the Class 5A state playoffs.

“I was really proud of how our kids competed. That is a good baseball team. Our kids were in it the whole time,” Demopolis coach James Moody said of his team’s performance. “They competed hard and, at the end of the day, that’s all we can ask out of them. Those two arms we saw tonight are as good as I’ve seen in a long time.”

Sophomore pitcher Sean Rape kept Demopolis off balance throughout the contest, striking out 10 batters and scattering two hits.

The Tigers got their lone run in the top of the first when Tyler Oates reached on a dropped third strike, moved to second on a walk, stole third and scored on a throwing error.

Matt Eicher got the first Demopolis hit in the third inning. Wil Stephens got the final Demopolis hit of the season with two outs in the seventh.

Zack Rogers walked in the first and scored on a Bryant Horn RBI single to tie the game. Benjamin Russell took the lead in the third when Rogers scored on a Seth Hendon RBI single. Caleb Brooks then drove in Horn with a sacrifice fly to put the Wildcats up 3-1.

Rogers, who dominated Demopolis from the mound in game one, scored his third run of game two in the fifth when he walked, stole second and later scored on a passed ball.

Sophomore Adam Sellers struck out four over four innings before giving way to Michael Brooker, who pitched two scoreless frames and fanned two.

“I thought he struggled all night keeping his front side closed and being able to get over the ball and get on top of it to get sink on his fastball and tilt on his breaking ball,” Moody said of his sophomore hurler’s effort. “He battled and this was a different environment for him, as it was for some of our kids.”

Demopolis ends the season with a winning record in Moody’s first season back as the team’s head coach. The game marked the final high school contest for seniors Tyler Oates, Michael Brooker, Matt Eicher, John Anthony Morrison, Wesley Dunn and Stephen Stewart.

“Anytime you have change, there’s going to be bumps in the road. We had times when we were good and times when we struggled with maturity with some of the younger kids. Hopefully, they’ll learn from this year,” Moody said. “We had some seniors that really did some good things for us this year. We’ve got some holes to replace for next year for sure.”