Area Baseball: Trojans, Patriots compete in Terry Sikes Memorial
Published 9:28 am Monday, March 13, 2023
- Luke Barron (24) pitched a complete game in a win over James Clemens. (Photo by Dan Smith)
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Charles Henderson High School hosted its 22nd Annual Terry Sikes Memorial Tournament this weekend with teams from all over the Wiregrass coming to Troy to compete in the tournament, including hometown teams Charles Henderson and Pike Liberal Arts.
PLAS 3-0 in the tournament with wins over Class 3A’s Opp, Class 7A’s James Clemens and Class 3A’s Straughn.
Against Opp, the Patriots (8-6) picked up a 5-0 shutout win on March 9. Levi Deboer went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, two RBIs and two runs, while John Lott went 2-for-3 with a triple and an RBI. Luke Barron, Jackson Booth and KC Bradford each scored a run. Kade Brookins got the win on the mound, allowing two hits and giving up no runs with four strikeouts in three innings pitched. Payne Jefcoat struck out six batters and gave up one hit and no runs in four innings pitched in relief.
Against 7A James Clemens on Friday, the Patriots fell behind 2-0 in the first inning. In the bottom of the third, Bradford belted a solo home run to cut the lead to 2-1 and then DeBoer scored on an error for the tying run. In the next at-bat, Lott hit an RBI double that drove Jefcoat home for the go-ahead run, which also ended up being the winning run as PLAS held James Clemens scoreless for the remainder of the game.
Barron pitched a complete game, giving up six hits and no earned runs with six strikeouts in seven innings pitched. While no Patriot hitter earned more than one hit, the entire batting lineup earned at least one hit on the night.
Pike Lib closed out the weekend with a resounding 11-6 win over Straughn on March 11. Jefcoat led the way at the plate, going 3-for-5 with an inside-the-park home run, four RBIs and two runs. Davis Kilcrease went 2-for-3 with two runs. DeBoer and Booth scored two runs each, while Cole Garrott, Lott and Barron scored one run.
Garrott pitched four innings and retired five batters, while giving up six hits and two earned runs. Wilson Cotton also pitched three innings and fanned fur batters, while giving up no hits or runs.
Pike’s win over Straughn marked the Patriots’ seventh straight win after starting the year 1-6 in the first seven games. The Patriots have wins over Class 2A semifinalist Ariton, 5A Carroll, 7A James Clemens and a trio of 3A schools during the winning streak.
Charles Henderson (6-5) went 1-2 at the Terry Sikes Memorial, with a 5-2 win over Ariton, a 12-5 loss to Bibb County and a 10-6 loss to WS Neal.
Against Bibb County, KaNeil Lewis, Will Templin and Cole Pugh each scored a run, while Templin, Damien Hart and Lewis each earned a double. Cooper Johnson scored two runs. Pugh pitched six innings and struck out five batters.
Against Ariton, the Trojans jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. Templin hit a ground ball single in the top of the first to drive Pugh home and then both Templin and Lewis scored on an error later in the inning.
In the bottom of the second, Ariton’s Hayes Hammock hit an RBI double that drove Myles Tyler home to cut the CHHS lead to 3-1. The Trojans extended the lead to 4-1 in the top of the fifth when Johnson scored on an error.
Connor Thrash scored for Ariton on an RBI from Lawson Leger to cut the Trojan lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Charles Henderson stretched the lead to 5-2 in the top of the seventh when Johnson scored on a pop fly from Chase Vaznian. Ariton wasn’t able to get back into scoring position as the Trojans held on for the win.
Lewis went 2-for-4 at the plate with a run, while Hart went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases and Parker Adams went 2-for-3. Adams pitched a complete game with eight strikeouts, while giving up six hits and two earned runs in seven innings on the mound. Connor Jones, Pugh and Vaznaian each earned a double play on the defensive end, as well.
For Ariton, Thrash went 2-for-3 with a run. Phenix Griffin pitched three innings and fanned two batters, while giving up six hits and one earned run.
WS Neal scored seven runs in the first inning against CHHS and the Trojans were unable to catch up from there. Lewis went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs. Templin went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Johnson, Kellen Stewart, Pugh and Hart scored one run each. Johnson pitched four and 1/3 innings and struck out three batters, while giving up three hits and one earned run.
The Zion Chapel Rebels (3-5) also picked up a dominant 12-2 win over Highland Home on the road on March 11 as a trio of Rebel pitchers earned a no-hitter. Brady Flowers, John Foster Hamm and Austin Jordan combined to strike out seven batters and gave up no hits in the win, while the pitchers allowed three walks. Neither pitcher gave up an earned run either as both of Highland Home’s runs came on errors. Flowers picked up the win on the mound and struck out three batters.
Wes Braisted, who went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, an RBI and three runs, led ZCHS. Mason Stuart also went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run. Hamm and Jordan scored two runs each, while Joseph LeGear scored one run.
On March 10, the Pike County Bulldogs also picked up a 9-3 win over Houston County at home. K. Flowers went 2-for-3 at the plate for PCHS with two RBIs, two doubles and two runs, while K. Singleton went 2-for-3 with an RBI and three runs. Omari Barrow also went 2-for-3 with two runs. V. Siler and B. Albritton scored one run each. Barrow pitched a complete game, mowing down 14 batters and giving up just three hits and two earned runs in seven innings pitched. Of Barrow’s 111 total pitches, 73 were strikes.
The Goshen Eagles picked up a 13-1 win over Elba on March 9. Tyler McLendon had a big day for the Eagles, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, a triple, four RBIs and two runs, while Andrew Galloway went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs. Brody Wilks also earned a triple and scored a run, while Peyton Stamey and Hunter Nobles scored one run. Gavin Davis, DJ Walters and CJ Thompson scored two runs each, as well. Stamey retired nine batters and gave up two hits and one earned run in five innings on the mound.