CHHS baseball improves to 4-1
Published 9:14 pm Saturday, February 20, 2016
Charles Henderson High raked out 28 combined base hits in two games Saturday to claim an 11-6 win over Dothan High followed later in the day by a 14-4 win over North Jackson at Hogan’s Hole in Troy.
In the first game Chase Hartley hit a home run, collected two hits and struck out nine to earn the pitching win, with Charlie Tisdale pitching the last inning and 1/3.
The Trojans jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, with Hartley hitting a two-run homer.
CHHS went up 8-0 in the bottom of the fourth, but Dothan rallied to cut the lead to 8-5 in the top of the fifth inning. The Trojans tacked on one in the fifth and two in the sixth for the 11-6 final.
Jackson Murphy and Devin Suddith each had three hits in the win over Dothan High, Hunter Reeves, Tisdale and Jabronski Williams also had two hits, while Nick Lewis and Carson Tucker had a hit apiece.
Suddith also had four runs batted in while Reeves had three.
Reeves, Tisdale and Suddith each doubled while Lewis tripled and Reeves also homered.
Hartley allowed one earned run over 5 and 2/3 innings, striking out nine and walking three.
In the second game the Trojans again took advantage of a big first inning, with Bryson Gandy, Hartley and Murphy each lashing singles, and Tisdale powered a double and later scored for a 5-0 first inning lead.
CHHS added another run in the second, North Jackson cut the lead to 6-4 in the top of the third inning, and the Trojans tacked on two runs in the fourth and six runs in the bottom of the fifth to ten-run the Chiefs, 14-4 in five innings.
Gandy was 3-for-4 at the plate for CHHS, Lewis and Reeves each had two hits, while Hartley, Murphy, Tisdale, Tucker and Grant Hughes each had one hit.
Gandy, Tucker and Tisdale each had a double for CHHS.
Reeves pitched a five-inning complete game, allowing one earned run on three hits while striking out five.
CHHS first-year head coach William Teal was pleased with the two quality wins, and how his team responded after dropping a contest on the road this past Thursday night.
“I feel really good about it, after Thursday when we had a hiccup, and I told our guys that they can lay down and let this define our season or get up and play like we can play,” said Teal. “We responded and had high energy all day. We still had some unearned runs – more than we wanted to – but I am really, really proud of our effort. I thought we swung the bat really well, and put ourselves in a good situation to win. When we got punched in the mouth we responded and I was really, really proud of them for doing that.
“I feel good moving forward, and we are confident with Hartley and Reeves as our starting two pitchers, and the way they responded today makes me feel really good. What our M.O. is going to be is our bats. The way they bounced back made us feel good about our chances for having a decent season. We are looking forward to a good week of preparation and practice, and we are going to concentrate on getting better where we need to get better at.”
The Trojans, now 4-1 on the season, are off until this Thursday, Friday and Saturday when they begin the annual Terry Sikes Memorial Tournament. CHHS hosts Prattville Thursday, Hewitt-Trussville on Friday, with Houston Academy and Robertsdale coming to Troy on Saturday.