Washout: Weather halts Patriots’ playoff series against rival Fort Dale
Published 6:15 pm Thursday, April 25, 2019
Inclement weather halted play during Pike Liberal Arts’ playoff series against Fort Dale on Thursday afternoon in Troy.
The Patriots defeated Fort Dale 10-0 in game one of a best two-out-of-three series. They took a 9-2 lead into the bottom of the third inning before weather delayed the action until Friday afternoon.
Holt Steed got the start on the mound and held the the Eagle offense to just two two hits. During his five innings of work, Steed struck out six batters.
After a scoreless inning and a half, the Patriots broke the ice with four runs in the bottom of the second inning. They sent nine batters to the plate and they racked up a total of four hits, including three in a row to begin the inning. Chandler Golden led off the inning with a single and went to second on a balk call. He came around to score the first run of the game on a double by Max Copeland to left center. Scott Taylor Renfroe walked with the bases loaded for the second run of the game and two batters later, Davis reached on an infield single, allowing pinch runner Javon Christian to score. Jade Sikes drove in the fourth run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to center field.
After Copeland’s second hit of the game in the third, Trevor Barron ripped the Patriots’ second double of the game to bring the score to 5-0 after three innings.
Not to be outdone, Sikes had a double of his own in the fourth, bringing the score to 6-0. Chandler Golden later drove in Sikes with a sacrifice fly.
The Patriots finished the game in the fifth inning. The Patriots had back-to-back bunt singles, the second one by Cody Hollis brought in a run, bringing the score to 8-0. Allen singled to right field and Hollis stole home to clinch the 10-0 win for the Patriots.
The Patriots finished with 12 hits. Levi Sikes, Copeland, Allen and Barron all had two hits to lead the Patriots.
Jade Sikes got the start in game two for the Patriots. Sikes allowed two runs in the bottom of the first inning, only one of which was earned.
The Patriot offense jumped on the Eagles and scored six runs in the top of the first inning. The Patriots had a two-run single by Jade Sikes and two run double by Chandler Golden to bring the score to 4-0. Barron walked with the bases loaded and Golden came in to score on an error.
After the Eagles got on the board with two runs in the first, The Patriots increased their lead to seven at 9-2. Jade Sikes scored on a wild pitch and Barron reached on an error that allowed both Golden and Copeland to score.
The tarp made an appearance heading into the bottom of the second inning to delay the game. The game will resume on Friday beginning at 4 p.m.