Cougars finish regular season with senior night sweep versus Monroe

Published 3:52 pm Friday, April 19, 2019

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Crisp County’s varsity baseball team finished out their regular season schedule with a three-game region sweep against Monroe High this week.

The Cougars took Tuesday’s series opener in Albany by a final score of 12-0, before returning home and sweeping the Tornadoes in a double-header on Thursday by scores of 12-1 and 16-0 for their senior night games.

Cougars 12, Monroe 0 

Brant Drinnon pitched a five inning shutout for the Cougars in Tuesday’s series opener, while the CCHS batting lineup scored runs in every inning except the first on their way to their first region win of the season.

Crisp put the first two runs of the game on the scoreboard during the top of the second inning on consecutive RBI hits by Toby Stripling and Jackson Napier for a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the third frame, CCHS scored three more runs to stretch the lead out to 5-0. For the third inning scoring plays, Noah Walters scored a run on a passed ball, Greer Hawkins hit a sacrifice fly that scored Nick Lanneau, and Dallas Pheil made it to the plate on a Monroe error later on in the frame.

The Cougars then piled on five more runs in the top of the fourth for a 10-0 lead going into the fifth inning. Jack Carter and Alex Kelley both had RBI hits in the frame, and some defensive mistakes from Monroe allowed another pair of runs to score in the fourth inning.

Jackson Napier and Tanner Massey scored the final two Crisp County runs on Monroe wild pitches during the top of the fifth inning for the 12-0 final score line.

CCHS offensive stats from the win: Stripling- one hit, one walk, one RBI and one run scored; Napier- two hits, one RBI, and two runs scored; Carter- one hit, one RBI, and one run; Massey-one walk and one run scored; Walters- two walks and two runs; Lanneau- one hit and two runs scored; Hawkins- one walk, one RBI, and one run; Pheil- one hit and two runs; Kelley- one hit and two RBIs; Jordan Grinnell- one walk.

Drinnon allowed just four Monroe hits and struck out eight batters over his five innings of work on the mound.

Cougars 12, Monroe 1 

In the first game of Thursday’s double-header, the Cougars scored 10 runs in the bottom of the first inning and later tacked on two in the third for their total.

Grinnell pitched five innings for the Cougars in the game and allowed just one hit and one run while striking out 10 batters.

CCHS offensive stats from Thursday’s first game: Stripling-one hit, one walk, and two runs; Napier- one hit, one walk, two RBIs, and one run; Kanye Spivey- one walk; Carter- one hit, two walks, two RBIs, and three runs; Walters- one hit, one walk, two RBIs, and two runs; Massey-one hit, one walk, one RBI, and one run; Jackson Faircloth- one hit and two RBIs; Cade Jolly- one hit, one RBI, and one run; Drinnon- one hit and one run; Cole Lancaster- one walk and one run scored; Ethan Pollock- one walk.

Cougars 16, Monroe 0 

Thursday’s second game saw the Cougars take the win after just four innings of play.

Drinnon got the start on the mound for Crisp and threw three shutout innings while allowing just one hit and striking out seven. Lancaster pitched the final inning for CCHS and completed the shutout.

CCHS offensive stats from Thursday’s second game: Stripling- one run; Carter- two hits and one RBI; Barfield- one hit (a triple), two walks, one RBI, and two runs; Lanneau- three runs scored; Walters- one hit, two walks, one RBI and four runs; Massey- one hit, two walks, one RBI, and one run; Kelley and Grinnell- each with two walks and one run scored; Drinnon-one hit (triple), one walk, two RBIs, and one run; Lancaster-one hit (triple), one walk, one RBI, and two runs.

With the wins, the Cougars ran their overall record to 13-15, with a 3-6 record in region play.

Crisp County will begin the class AAA state playoffs with a series at Jackson High School. Games one and two are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon beginning at 4 p.m. If the teams split the first two games, a third game will be played at Jackson on Thursday afternoon to determine who advances.