Yelverton, Craig combine in 2-0 Demopolis shutout of Leroy

Demopolis (1-1) got a combine seven shutout innings from Luke Yelverton and Jay Craig Saturday morning for its first win of 2015 in a 2-0 victory over Leroy.

Yelverton (1-0) struck out four batters over four innings of work while scattering a pair of infield singles and issuing no walks. Craig (1) followed for the three-inning save, striking out four, allowing two hits and walking none.

“It sounds kind of like an old broken record, but that gives us a chance,” Demopolis coach James Moody said. “That gives us a chance every time. Right now, it’s about throwing the ball across the plate and letting people swing. I thought they did a good job of that.”

The mound effort means Demopolis pitchers have worked 13 consecutive scoreless innings since allowing a run to Mobile Christian in the first frame Friday night.

The Tigers got all their offense out of the way early against Leroy Saturday, hanging two runs on the board in the first.

Ryan Schroeder opened with a single to right before moving to second on a Jamarcus Ezell sacrifice bunt. R.J. Cox reached on an infield single. Jacob Rodrigues got the Tigers on the board when he stroked a long single down the right field line to plate Schroeder and give DHS the 1-0 lead.

After a Wil Stephens walk, Craig incurred a bases-loaded walk to score Jonathan Lewis, who served as the courtesy runner for Cox. The Tigers could do no further damage in the inning, stranding three runners in the frame.

Demopolis saw its next best chance to score come in the fourth when Tripp Perry stroked a double to the gap in left-center and moved to third on a Seth Aiken sacrifice before the Tigers’ next two batters went quietly.

“What we saw last night and what we saw today were two completely different pitchers,” Moody said, comparing his team’s offensive performance Saturday morning with its struggles from Friday night against Mobile Christian. “I didn’t see us make a lot of adjustments. I just think we need to play. We need to keep playing, see more live pitching and hopefully we’ll get some timing down and work some mechanical issues out.”

Demopolis stranded four runners in the game while Leroy left five aboard. The Bears’ best chance to score came in the second when Jonathan Karr reached on an error in the top of the second. Nicholas Reed advanced him to second with a sacrifice bunt before Christopher Waddill pushed the runner to third with a grounder to the right side. Yelverton polished off the frame with a strikeout to nullify the threat.

“We made a few quality pitches at crucial times. I can’t be anything but pleased with the pitching,” Moody said.

Demopolis is set to play again at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F

LHS      0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

DHS     2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

 

 

R H E LOB

LHS     0  4  0   5

DHS    0  5 2   4

 

WP – Luke Yelverton – 4IPs, 2Hs, 4Ks, 0BBs, 0Rs

LP – Nicholas Reed – 6IPs, 5Hs, 2BBs, 2Rs, 2ERs, 4Ks, CG

S – Jay Craig – 3IPs, 2Hs, 4Ks, 0BBs, 0Rs

 

 

DEMOPOLIS

Ryan Schroeder – 1-3, R

Jamarcus Ezell – 0-2, SAC

R.J. Cox – 1-3, ROE

Jacob Rodrigues – 1-3, RBI

Wil Stephens – 1-2, BB

Jay Craig – 0-2, BB, RBI

Tripp Perry – 1-3, 2B

Seth Aiken – 0-1, SAC

Luke Yelverton – 0-2

Jonathan Lewis – SB, R

 

LEROY

Marcus Anderson – 0-3

Robert Butts – 0-3

Denzel Woodard – 0-3, ROE

Jonathan Karr – 0-2, ROE

Nicholas Reed – 1-2, SAC

Christopher Waddill – 0-3

James Stewart – 1-3

Hunter Rivers – 0-2

Jakerrian Woodyard – 1-1

Charles Jones – 1-3