Eighth inning spells doom for Demopolis in loss to Sipsey Valley

Demopolis overcame a 4-0 deficit only to have the wheels come off in the eighth inning of an 8-4 loss to Sipsey Valley Wednesday.

“That’s a quality baseball team. I’m not happy with where we are as a whole. There are parts that are good,” Demopolis coach James Moody said. “We’re just going to have to keep playing and find that chemistry and that mesh that keeps us going.”

The Tigers spotted the Bears two runs in the second and two more in the third to find themselves in an early hole.

Christopher Gray led off the game with a walk, advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw and scored on a Brady Holcomb RBI single for the first run of the game. Holcomb later gave Sipsey a 2-0 lead when he scored on a Justin Thomas RBI groundout.

Sipsey walked the bases loaded to open the third inning. Holcomb scored on a RBI sacrifice fly by Thomas while Garret Lewis scored on a Nathan Harcrow RBI single to stake the Bears to a 4-0 lead.

Michael Brooker came on in relief and allowed no Sipsey Valley runs in five innings of work, giving his team a chance to mount a comeback.

“He is coming back off an injury. I really had no intentions on him going that long, but the flow of the game was good,” Moody said of Brooker. “He felt good and we were able to come back and tie it late. He deserved a lot better than what we got out of that situation.”

Demopolis began to work its way back into the game in the fifth when Tripp Perry drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a Seth Aiken single and scored on an error that followed a Tyler Oates single.

The Tigers tied the game with a three-run rally in the sixth inning. John Anthony Morrison started the inning with a single before being erased on an unusual 3-1-6 putout that allowed Wil Stephens to reach first base. Aiken picked up the RBI by driving Stephens in with a grounder to third.

Matt Eicher followed with a RBI single that scored Wesley Dunn, who served as the courtesy runner when catcher Stephen Stewart drew a walk.

Oates, who finished the night 4-for-4 with a walk, tied the game with a RBI single that scored Perry.

“That’s the kind of leadership that we want out of our seniors,” Moody said of Oates’ performance. “He had an outstanding night, hit the ball hard every time and that last at-bat really had a great AB and drew a walk. We need guys like that to step up and lead this team and to show the younger guys how it’s done.”

Sipsey used two errors and five hits to score four runs in the eight with Harcrow scoring on an errant pickoff play, James Mills scoring on a Logan Averett single, Charles Duncan scoring on an errant throw during a stolen base attempt and Averett scoring on a Holcomb RBI single.

“Obviously there’s some fight in there. I thought we were able to put some pressure on them and get them out of their comfort zone a little bit. Then they turned right around and did the same thing to us in the eighth,” Moody said.

The Tigers put two runners on base in the eighth inning but could not advance them, capping a night in which they left 13 on base.

“I was proud of how we swung the bats to get in that position. I thought we really were aggressive at the plate. I think what got us was that we had a couple of guys that had some rough nights and they came up in key situations of the game,” Moody said. “Being able to hit with runners on base is a mental thing. It’s the grind we talk about. We’re turning that pressure on ourselves instead of realizing the pressure is on the defense. I think that is part of the maturation and growing up. It is biting us right now.”

Weather permitting, the Tigers are set to host Jackson Thursday before playing a Saturday double-header in Centreville against Bibb County and Hale County.