Demopolis extends season at least one more day with seventh inning rally

Demopolis staved off elimination with late-inning heroics Friday night against Sylacauga, giving itself one more game to try to advance to the third round.

Sylacauga 9, Demopolis 4

Demopolis suffered and unceremonious 9-4 defeat during an error-laden performance in game one. The Tigers came out hot in the top of the first inning. Charles Casper doubled in Andrew Patterson to take a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Hudson Holley singled in Davis Petrey and Casper to set the margin at 3-0.

Syalacauga began chipping away with a run in the bottom of the second. Petrey opened the third with a leadoff homer to move it to 4-1. Sylacauga answered with a two-run shot in the home half of the third before getting another run on a two-out error to tie the game.

The fourth inning spelled the undoing of Demopolis. Sylacauga took the lead on a two-out single and strung together two more singles and a hit-by-pitch to drive the lead to 8-4. Sylacauga added one more run in the home half of the sixth to put the game away.

Demopolis 3, Sylacauga 2

The Tigers took their time getting the offense going in a well-played nightcap, earning the win on a Petrey walkoff RBI in the bottom of the seventh.

Casper erased a 1-0 Demopolis deficit in the bottom of the fourth when he hit a leadoff homer. The Tigers got three straight singles from Tyler Jones, DeDe Davis and Patterson to open the bottom of the fifth. Petrey then hit a sacrifice fly to score Jones and put the Tigers up 2-1. Sylacauga tied the game again in the sixth, setting up the game’s final sequence.

The seventh-inning rally opened with a Payton Geary walk. He gave way to courtesy runner Russ Logan, who advanced all the way to third on a bunt from Jones. An intentional walk to Patterson loaded the bases with one out. Petrey followed with a hot shot to short to scored Logan to end the game.

Freshman hurler Hayes Atkins got a no-decision, but did yeoman’s work in holding the Sylacauga bats at bay. He lasted six and a third innings with eight strikeouts while allowing only five hits and two earned runs. Petrey struck out the only batter he faced to pick up the win.

The teams are set for a decisive game three Saturday at 1 p.m.