Perry Ks seven, Demopolis scores eight in win
One week after suffering a season-opening loss to Sweet Water, Demopolis avenged the defeat with an 8-1 victory over the Bulldogs Monday.
Tripp Perry anchored the Tigers’ effort on the mound, holding the Bulldog bats at bay in his first varsity start.
“He commanded the zone, had two pitches in the zone and really, I thought, kept their hitters off balance and did an outstanding job,” Demopolis coach James Moody said of Perry.
The junior hurler worked five innings, allowing one unearned run and two hits while striking out seven batters.
Stephen Stewart wrapped up the game on the mound for Demopolis, working two innings while striking out four, walking one and allowing one hit.
The Tigers opened the scoring in the first inning by hanging three runs on the board. Seth Aiken drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on a Matt Eicher RBI single. Michael Brooker singled, stole second and scored on a Tyler Oates RBI groundout to put Demopolis up 2-0.
Stewart stroked a double to deep left field that narrowly missed finding its way over the fence. Eicher scored on the play to stake Perry to the three run lead.
“I see more guys that are trying to let the ball travel, let it get deep where we can be short to it and compact and we’re not going to the ball as much as we have in the past and early in this season,” Moody said. “The ones that are not doing that are not having success right now.”
That proved to be all Perry would need as he allowed only a single to Tristan Weatherly in the second inning and struck out the side in the third.
Demopolis added to the advantage in the third when Oates hit a leadoff single and scored on the second of John Anthony Morrison’s three singles.
The Tigers put the game out of reach in the fourth when they hung four runs on the board and sent 10 batters to the plate.
Brooker walked, stole second and scored on an Eicher RBI single. Eicher came around to score on a throwing error on the back end of an Oates infield single.
Oates scored the third run of the frame when Wil Stephens picked up a RBI off a bases-loaded walk. Ryan Schroeder followed with a RBI base-on-balls of his own that scored Jacob Rodrigues, who reached on a single.
Hunter Mendenhall singled to open the fifth inning and later scored on an error for Sweet Water’s only run of the game.
Demopolis has a trio of contests against formidable teams at the tail end of the week as they head to face Thomasville Friday and G.W. Long and Jackson Saturday.
“We’ve got Thomasville Friday, 2A state champion G.W. Long Saturday and Jackson Saturday. I want to see our guys continue to stay focused every at-bat, every pitch, everything we do on defense,” Moody said. “We’re still going through lulls and against good teams, it’s going to catch up with us if we cannot learn. We talk to them about how it is a grind. We ought to be grinding and grinding and grinding and they ought to be mentally and physically exhausted when they leave. We’ve got to grind a little more.”
The Bulldogs are looking to get back on track after falling into a brief slide in the wake of last week’s 2-1 win over Demopolis. They will try to right the ship ahead of the beginning of area play next week.
“We knew. We knew we were young and we’re still trying to figure out our lineup,” Sweet Water coach Kevin Byrd said. “It takes us a while to figure it out. We’ve got region play next week. We’ve got five games this week. We’re trying a lot of different lineups and trying to find what works for us.”