Amtmann’s surprise start keys Darton’s win

ALBANY — Darton freshman pitcher Cole Amtmann admitted he had been overthinking his pitching mechanics prior to previous starts this season.

Darton coach Scot Hemmings didn’t give Amtmann a chance to think before Thursday’s game against Andrew College.

Hemmings flipped Amtmann a ball just minutes before the game and gave him the nod to start the Region XVII game, and Amtmann responded with six strong innings, leading the Cavs to an 8-1 victory.

“We didn’t even tell him he was starting the game until five minutes before warmup time to get his mind cleared,” Hemmings said. “He threw unbelievable. I was very proud of Cole.”

Amtmann, a Newnan native, allowed just four hits and one run in his first victory since Feb. 28. It was the 11th straight win for the Cavs (28-13, 18-4 Region XVII), who have won 18 of their last 20 games. Andrew College (10-28, 4-18) has lost 10 straight and 17 of 18.

“I just went out there and attacked the zone,” Amtmann said. “Getting strike one really helped out, and I was able to find my slider in the third and fourth innings, and that was my put-out pitch. It worked well (Thursday) and allowed me to get guys out when I needed to. Hopefully I will be able to continue to come out and give quality starts.”

Amtmann had been told he might get a bullpen appearance on Thursday, a day where he had tests in macro-chemistry and calculus classes and had just stayed up the night before writing a biology paper.

“(Thursday) was a school day,” he said.

Instead, it turned into one of his best nights on the mound. He finished with eight strikeouts and three walks and retired the side in order in three different innings.

“He probably has the best stuff on the team if you really look at his stuff in the bullpen,” Hemmings said. “He is getting over some freshman mental lapses, but (Thursday) he looked as good as we have had. Once he got his breaking ball across he was real good.”

It was a pitcher’s duel between Amtmann and Andrew starter Zack Eller for the first four innings before the Cavs broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning with runs from Hill Thomas and Riliani Familia. Darton added another run in the sixth inning on an RBI from Thomas, and then the Cavs exploded for four runs in the seventh inning on RBIs from Familia, William Golden and Tavin Thompson.

Darton’s late-game surge followed a fourth-inning talk from Hemmings in front of the dugout where he pleaded for his team to play with more energy.

“I told them that I have watched this two years in a row. We have messed up somewhere along the way when we came out flat and got beat and messed up two conference championships two years in a row,” Hemmings said. “I didn’t want to sit here and watch it again.”

Darton’s seventh-inning rally was highlighted by a lead-off home run to deep left from Familia, who was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Cavs first baseman Brandon Sharpe, the NJCAA national player of the week, was 3-for-5 with all of his hits coming in the final four innings.

Cavs pitchers Davis Adkins, a former Crisp County standout, and Zack McCurry were strong in the final three innings. Adkins pitched the seventh and the eighth and allowed three hits and struck out three, while McCurry loaded the bases with one out in the ninth but got out of the jam with a strikeout and flyout.

Darton and Andrew finish their four-game series with a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.