Demopolis staves off Thomasville for 14th straight win

THOMASVILLE, Ala. – Demopolis took control in the top of the first inning and thwarted significant threats in the innings that followed for its 14th consecutive victory Tuesday night. Demopolis hung three runs on the board in the first inning and four in the sixth to back anchor an 8-4 win over Thomasville.

DeDe Davis opened the game by going down the third base line for the first of his three doubles. Davis Petrey drove him in with his RBI fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning.

Charles Casper then singled to left to resuscitate the rally. Hunter Thrash followed with a double to drive in Casper for the 2-0 lead. Hudson Holley then singled him home to make it 3-0.

Thomasville staged its own two-out rally in the bottom of the first when Corrigan Thibodeaux singled to right and scored on Parker Coopwood’s single to narrow the gap to 3-1.

Back-to-back doubles from Petrey and Casper moved the lead to 4-1 in the third inning before Thomasville mounted its first considerable threat in the bottom of the fourth.

A hit batsman and a walk to start the inning put pressure on significant pressure on freshman hurler Hayes Atkins for the first time in the contest. Atkins responded with striking out the next batter on five pitches, inducing a 1-1 pop out and forcing a grounder to third to get out of the inning unscathed.

With Atkins off the mound in the fifth, the Demopolis bullpen appeared destined for failure in the bottom of the fifth. Two walks and a Bralen Washington single loaded the bases with nobody out, forcing a second pitching change from Demopolis. Holley took to the hill and quickly forced a groundball from Thomasville’s three-hole hitter. Petrey charged in to field the ball from short, stepped on second and fired for the double play. Javien Johnson scored from third on the play to cut the Demopolis lead to 4-2. The visiting Tigers were not quite ready to wriggle off the hook just yet as a hit batsman and a walk loaded the bases all over again. Holley then dug in and struck out the next batter to end the frame.

Demopolis all but put the game out of the reach in the top of the sixth. Henry Overmyer took a beanball to open the inning. Tyler Jones executed a sacrifice bunt to move him over. Davis followed with a double to score Overmyer for the 5-2 lead. Patterson repeated the feat to plate Davis for the 6-2 advantage. After Petrey was hit by a pitch, Casper drove in two with a double for the 8-2 lead.

Thomasville threatened again in the home half of the inning. The leadoff batter reached on an error and Dawson McConnell drew a walk. Three batters later, Addison Powell doubled in Easton Thibodeaux and Johnson to slice the gap to 8-4.

Atkins (3-0) struck out six batters over four innings of work while allowing two hits, a walk and one earned run.

Demopolis (14-4) is set to return to action Saturday when it travels to Centreville to face Bibb County and Gordo.