Demopolis beats Dallas County 10-1

Wil Stephens rips a double to left field against Dallas County.
Wil Stephens rips a double to left field against Dallas County.

Demopolis (5-6, 1-0) had little trouble with its first area contest of the season Friday when it downed visiting Dallas County 10-1.

Tripp Perry earned the win, working five and a third innings while striking out eight, walking two and scattering four hits.

“I didn’t feel like he threw his best today. I thought he struggled through it the whole time. Last week when we were in Montgomery, he was much, much better,” Demopolis coach James Moody said of Perry’s outing. “But that happens sometimes. He competed and he kept us in the ball game and gave us a chance.”

Jacob Rodrigues entered with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth and his team leading 8-1. Rodrigues induced a double play ball and then pitched around an error in the seventh for the save. Rodrigues went two and two-thirds innings, struck out two, issued no walks and allowed no hits.

Demopolis drew eight walks and had two hit batters in a game that only saw the home team notch six hits.

“It wasn’t just offensively. To me, there was no focus. There was no intensity whatsoever and that summed the whole day up,” Moody said.

The big inning for the Tigers came in the fifth when they scored five runs to open up the lead. Wil Stephens doubled in Jamarcus Ezell and Jordan Grace. Clay White, Stephens and Jay Craig each scored on wild pitches.

The Tigers tacked on two in the sixth when Seth Aiken drove in Stephens with a RBI fielder’s choice and Craig scored on a wild pitch.

Demopolis opened the scoring in the first when Ryan Schroeder doubled and scored on a Rodrigues RBI groundout. White scored on a passed ball in the second inning to make it 2-0.

The Tigers scored again in the fourth when Stephens walked and scored on a Luke Yelverton RBI single.

The Tigers are set to play again Saturday at Dallas County in a double-header.

“I want to see us come to the ballpark supporting each other, caring about each other and focused on doing our job for however long we’re there,” Moody said of his Saturday expectations. “Whatever happens with the score will happen. When we do that, we’re a pretty good ball team. When we don’t, we’re not very good.”