Indians Lose to Northwest Whiftfield

It was the one that got away…

The Stephens County Indians were three outs from advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in the Class AAAA State Playoffs, but sometimes those last three outs are the hardest to get. The Indians led 6-1 in the seventh inning, but Northwest Whitfield took advantage of four walks, a hit batsman,and three hits to score seven runs in the final inning and stay alive in the best of three series with an 8-6 win in Tunnel Hill on Friday Night.

Northwest Whitfield scored first in game two with a run in the top of the first, but the Indians tied it in the second inning when Cole Beitzel reached on an error, and scored on a Bruin second error in the inning.

The Indians took the lead in the bottom of the third inning on Kooper Briley’s towering two-run home run. The Indians added two more runs in the fifth inning on Dylan Huff’s first home run of the season and Dawson Sorrells scored on an errant throw. The Indians increased their lead to 6-1 when Dawson Dean scored on Sorrells infield single.

Davis Swenson sailed along for six innings allowing only three hits and one unearned run until the trouble came in the seventh inning. After a walk, hit batter, and two more walks Swenson was relieved by Chaz Bridges who struck out the first batter he faced, walked the next hitter, and then picked up another strikeout, with two outs and trailing 6-3, Northwest Whitfield’s Grant Terrell singled in two runs, Sebastian Orozco doubled in the tying and go ahead runs, and Hank Beardon singled in Orozco.

Andrew Ashe picked up the win in relief, and Chaz Bridges took the loss.

In game one, Kooper Briley hit a three-run home run and had four RBI’s to lead the Indians to a 5-1 victory.

The Indians broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning when Bryson Fowler walked, and Ben Hobbs running for Fowler scored on Dawson Dean’s two out double. The Indians increased their lead to 2-0 when Dylan Huff led off the inning with a double and scored on Kooper Briley’s two out single. Northwest Whitfield cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fifth on Michael Pipkin’s Sacrifice Fly, but Kooper Briley broke the game open in the top of the seventh with a two out three run home run to deep left.

Dawson Sorrells pitched a complete game in game one going seven innings while allowing only three hits and striking out three improving to 9-2 on the season. The Bruins Ethan Cronan took the loss.
The two teams will meet in the deciding game today to try and advance and face Luella next week in the round of sixteen. Airtime today is 11:45 a.m. With first pitch scheduled for noon on 93.1 FM & AM-630 WNEG and at wnegradio.com.