Four-run fourth propels Darlington past Lamar
By Drake Horton
Contributing Writer
Behind a four-run bottom of the fourth inning, the Darlington Falcons defeated the Lamar Silver Foxes at home last Wednesday night 6-2.
Tied at two going into the bottom half of the fourth, the Falcons strung together three straight doubles to start the inning that resulted in two runs, followed that up with another run on a throwing error by Lamar and capped it off with a RBI single by Gage Weatherford.
“I think the important thing for us tonight was that we strung some hits together,” Darlington head coach Dennis Gearhart said. “That is one of the first times all year that’s happened for us, and extra base hits at that, which is really big. It is always easier playing with a lead, you can relax a little bit, you don’t have some much tension on you.”
Darlington scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning off of Quay Gandy’s RBI groundout to shortstop. Jacob Adams led the inning off with a standup double and pinch runner Kris Moore advanced to third on wild pitch setting up Gandy with the opportunity to drive in a run without having to get an actual base hit.
The one-run lead was short lived, however, as Lamar answered with two runs in the top of the third to take a one-run lead of its own.
Tyler Twiford blasted a solo shot over the left-center wall and Lamar’s Clay Tiller added the Silver Foxes’ second run of the inning after reaching base by being hit by a pitch, stealing second, reaching third on a groundout and scoring on an error by Darlington starting pitcher Luke Flowers.
The Falcons tied the game back up at two in the bottom half of the third. Garret Knight led the inning off with a single; Malike Cooper followed that up with a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt.
Weatherford moved Knight to third with a groundout to second and Campbell Outlaw produced a little two-out magic with an RBI single to right field.
After holding Lamar scoreless in the top of the fourth, Darlington cranked out four runs in the bottom half of the inning and never looked back.
“When our pitchers go out and throw strikes, we have been playing really good defense behind them, the hitting has been the concern and I was glad to see the bats warm up a little bit,” Gearhart said.
Germari Sutton, who has been seldom used in the past, came in to pitch with two outs in the third and threw consistent strikes, silencing the Lamar bats for three innings.
Knight closed the game out, picking up the save, throwing 1 1/3 innings of shutout ball. He did run into a little trouble in the top of the seventh with Lamar’s first two batters reaching, but back to back strikeouts and a groundout ended the game and the Silver Foxes rally attempt.
“All hands on deck,” Gearhart said, discussing his use of pitchers against Lamar. “We have to have guys come in and spot pitch for us and guys who haven’t done a lot of it, but that is a challenge that we have put on them. We are hoping they rise to that challenge.”
Despite the loss, Lamar head coach Adam Windham was not disappointed in his team’s performance.
“I didn’t think we played bad baseball,” Windham said. “We left a couple balls over the middle of the plate that they hit hard and cost us, we had a little mistake there, but overall I thought we played good defense, we threw strikes and we just didn’t hit the ball. That was the difference to me; we just didn’t hit it in spots that we needed to.”
WEEKLY RECAP: Outside of the non-region game against Lamar, the Falcons played two region games this past week, splitting both.
In the first contest, Darlington took on the Wilson Tigers at home March 12, with the Falcons holding on to a 3-2 win.
The second region game had the exact same score, but the outcome was reversed with the Falcons losing on the road 3-2 to Myrtle Beach this past Friday.
Darlington is currently 4-3 overall, 1-1 in the region.