BY DANIEL SCHMIDT THE OBSERVER
LEE COUNTY — The Lee-Scott Academy baseball team opened 3A Area 6 play with a bang, securing a 7-2 road win on April 2 and 10-0 and 7-1 victories at home on April 3 over Beulah High School.
Following those results, the Warriors improved to 16-7 overall and 2-0 in the area, and the Bobcats fell to 7-8 overall and 0-2 in the area. The April 3 doubleheader’s second game didn’t count toward either team’s official area record.
Game 1
In Beulah on April 2, LSA broke the game open in the top of the third with a three-run burst. Barrett Cook’s line drive to left scored Griffin Gaston, and Rylan Smith’s single to center brought home Preston Huguley. Rush Dunlap capped the frame with a sacrifice fly that plated Cook for a 3-0 lead.
The Bobcats trimmed the deficit to two during their next turn at the plate when Troy Toungett scored from third following a wild pitch.
The Warriors steadily pulled away in the fifth inning after Luke Donaldson’s single scored Harrison Snow, and Andrew Owen crossed home from third on a wild pitch in the sixth inning to make it 5-1.
Donaldson, Huguley and Owen then combined to put the game away in the seventh. Huguley’s single scored Donaldson before Owen’s double brought Huguley home for a 7-1 edge. Ryder Lowery concluded the scoring in the bottom of the seventh courtesy of a wild pitch, but BHS’s rally ended there.
Braden Martin earned the win, striking out 13 over seven innings while allowing six hits and one earned run. Brady Blackston took the loss, fanning five and surrendering five hits and five earned runs in 5 ⅔ innings.
Game 2
Back in Auburn on April 3, LSA’s offense wasted no time. Gaston’s first-inning single to right scored Huguley, and the Warriors kept the pressure on through the third, when two wild pitches in the same at-bat brought Owen home before Snow added a sacrifice fly to plate Myles Rogers.
Huguley’s fourth-inning single scored Donaldson, and the fifth produced two more runs: Rogers on a catcher’s error and Jack Fuqua’s triple to center that cleared Beau King from second.
The sixth inning finished BHS off as Cook’s single scored Dunlap, Snow’s double cleared Huguley and Rogers in one swing and Fuqua’s single brought Snow home to trigger the mercy rule at 10 runs.
Cook took the win with eight strikeouts and three hits allowed in a six-inning shutout. Hunter Duval absorbed the loss, allowing nine hits and 10 earned runs in 5 ⅓ innings despite striking out six hitters.
Game 3
In the nightcap, BHS drew first blood when Blackston’s groundout scored Duval from third. However, the Warriors answered immediately on a wild pitch that delivered Owen home from third to tie the game 1-1. Fuqua then took over in the third, drilling a two-RBI triple to left that cleared Cook and Brooks Zachry in one stroke.
The fifth inning ultimately put the game away. Gaston stole second and third before scoring on a catcher’s error, Fuqua followed on another error and Huguley’s single to left capped the frame by scoring Rogers. Snow added a sixth-inning insurance run on a groundout that plated Cook for the final margin.
Zachry earned the win with three strikeouts and three hits allowed in five innings. Braydon Tapley took the loss, retiring five batters while surrendering six hits and six earned runs in 4 ⅓ innings.
