Sellers fans 11, Dunn snags final out in Demopolis win
Demopolis (10-10, 3-0) held on to beat Greenville 6-4 Tuesday and move to within one game of clinching the Class 5A, Area 6 title.
Greenville broke up an Adam Sellers no-hitter with the first batter of the seventh inning when A’Darius Bowen legged out an infield single. An error on the play allowed Bowen to reach second. He would later scored on another infield single, cutting the Demopolis lead to 6-4.
After drawing a walk, Greenville found itself with the go-ahead run at the plate and two away in the inning.
The Greenville batter stroked a ball to left field that sliced toward that line and appeared destined for extra bases before Wesley Dunn made a running snow cone grab to end the game.
The play backed up a Sellers effort that include 11 strikeouts, one hit, two walks and one earned run over six innings of work.
“I was real pleased and proud of Adam. I thought he gave us an absolutely outstanding effort,” Demopolis coach James Moody said of the sophomore’s scintillating performance. “There’s things we’re still working on with him. He is going to get better, I believe. I want to see him get ahead of hitters quicker, lower his pitch count. What can you say but outstanding. He gave our hitters a chance because we weren’t very good at the plate.”
Michael Brooker got the save, striking out one in an inning of work.
Demopolis fell behind early as a RBI sacrifice fly by Clayton McMeans plated a Greenville run in the second. A dropped third strike, walk, stolen base and delayed double steal allowed Greenville to take a 2-0 lead in the third.
Demopolis fired back with a pair in the home half of the third as Ryan Schroeder got the game’s first hit and scored on a Tyler Oates RBI grounder. Brooker then ripped a triple to straight away center to score Oates and tie the game.
Demopolis took the lead in the fourth when Tripp Perry scored as a pinch runner for Jacob Rodrigues. Perry crossed home on a Schroeder RBI grounder. Wil Stephens added to the lead when he scored after an Oates bases-loaded walk.
The home Tigers hung a two-spot one more time in the fifth when Stephens scored on R.J. Cox’s RBI single. Cox then scored on a Schroeder RBI single.
Greenville finagled a run in the sixth when Davonta Posey reached on an error, stole second and scored on the sixth Demopolis error of the game.
“We took 20 minutes worth of ground balls (Monday). We took 15 (Tuesday) before the game. We took in-and-out today. I think it’s a mental thing with them right now,” Moody sad of the miscues. “We’re making some strides in some areas, but we’ve got to field the ball to have a chance.”
Demopolis is scheduled to travel to Greenville Thursday night for a double-header.
“We have absolutely got to be mentally focused starting pitch one. I’ve seen spurts of it this year,” Moody said. “I thought we swung the bats well last week game one in Wetumpka. I think it is a matter of continuing to work and trying to continue to grow them day by day.”