ACCS wins, Huntington loses on last day of tournament
Published 12:07 am Saturday, February 21, 2009
FERRIDAY — Adams County Christian baseball coach Hunter McKievier challenged his team to finally step up and post a dominant performance.
They apparently listen well.
ACCS scored three runs in the top of the first inning on its way to a 10-4 victory over Tallulah Academy on the third and final day of the Huntington Preseason Baseball Tournament.
“We had been playing good enough to win the games, but we haven’t had the dominant performance we’d been looking for,” McKievier said. “I challenged them to hit the ball and come out fired up, and they did that.”
ACCS scored another run in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead before Tallulah came back with three runs in the bottom of the second to close the lead to one.
However, the Rebels scored another run in the fourth and put the game away with five runs in the top of the fifth inning.
“We had a little lull in the middle of the game, but they came through in the end,” McKievier said. “It was a total team effort.”
Brandon Sanders and Ryan Comer led the way for the Rebels. Sanders was 2-for-3 with two doubles, while Comer was 3-for-4 with two doubles of his own.
Comer was also the winning pitcher in the game.
ACCS went 2-1 in the three games they played in the tournament. The games don’t count in the regular standings. McKievier said playing in the preseason tournament was important for the team.
“You get to see what you have to work on, first off,” McKievier said. “Right now we have to work on hitting. Our pitching was strong all three games. It also lets us get a lot of kids in different positions and see what they can do. It makes you feel comfortable that you’re able to count on everybody in a game.”
ACCS opens up its regular season with three straight home games.
The Rebels host WCCA on Monday before playing Copiah on Tuesday. Then they host Monterey on Saturday.
Franklin Academy 7, Huntington 4
Ferriday — All was well for the Huntington baseball team through one inning Friday afternoon.
But things went awry for the Hounds in the second inning, as they fell 7-4 to Franklin Academy in the Huntington Preseason Baseball tournament.
“The first inning for us and for them was three up, three down,” said Huntington coach Leo Eliser. “They came on in the second inning, we walked the first guy and struck the second guy out.
“Then it was a base hit, a hit batter, a base hit and three errors. We just kind of fell apart.”
Franklin Academy scored six runs in the second inning, and even though the Hounds held them scoreless for the next two innings, Huntington couldn’t get enough run support to repair the damage.
“We ended up leaving six people on base,” Eliser said. “Timely hits are killing us right now.”
Although Huntington did score four runs in the fourth inning, Franklin tied on another run in the fifth to seal the deal.
The leadoff man for Franklin hit a double and the team batted around to score him.
Joey Roberts, the Hounds catcher, played in the opposite spot for Huntington, taking the mound for four innings with two strikeouts.
Dustin Carrol, the winning pitcher, struck out one in five innings, and the Hounds got five hits.
“I think we’re improving every game,” Eliser said. “Joey did a real good job out there for us. But the errors killed us.”
The Hounds will travel to Franklin Academy to take on Claiborne at 5 p.m. Wednesday and will start their season against Adams County at home on March 2.