Darton rolls into conference finals

ALBANY — Darton State College pitcher Rabon Martin stretched and fired.

When his 90 mile per hour pitch roared into catcher John Cable’s mitt, the home plate umpire called South Georgia’s Blake Chaney out on a called third strike.

Martin pumped his fist in celebration, then his teammates stormed the field to congratulate the left-hander.

Martin worked the final three innings of scoreless relief to save a 4-2 victory for the Cavaliers, sending Darton into the GCAA Tournament championship game today at noon.

The Cavaliers need to win just once more in two tries to claim the conference title.

“It would be a tremendous confidence boost for us going into the district tournament,” Martin said. “Hopefully, we’ll get that chance.”

The way Darton is playing, especially its pitching rotation, it will be tough to beat the Cavs. Friday starter Eric Henderson was masterful, duplicating a similar performance from Thursday’s winner Sterling Sharp in a victory over West Georgia Tech.

Henderson allowed just seven hits and two runs in a dominating performance before turning the game over to Martin.

And the Cavalier bullpen has been strong, getting a combined seven scoreless innings in the tournament from Martin and Jeremy Beasley, who earned the save on Thursday.

The pitching rotation has made it easy for the offense — get a few runs, grab the lead and then let the pitching staff do the rest.

After the Hawks jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, Darton took the lead for good in the second inning with another single from Cody Ilgenfritz, who plated two runs during a three-run second to stake the Cavs to a 3-1 advantage.

Ilgenfritz had a similar performance in Thursday’s game, using a single to score two runs.

The freshman said Darton coach Scot Hemmings had talked pregame about someone stepping up offensively with two outs.

“I had a chance and felt like I needed to come through,” said Ilgenfritz, who has three hits and four RBIs in the tournament. “We’re just having fun.”

South Georgia cut the lead to 3-2 with a run in third on an RBI single from Mikal Flores before Henderson appeared to get stronger, setting down seven straight before allowing a single in the sixth. He promptly used his defense to get out of the inning before yielding to Martin.

South Georgia’s best chance to overcome the deficit came in the eighth when the Hawks loaded the bases with an out before Martin recorded a strikeout, then induced a groundout to cut down South Georgia’s momentum.

The Cavaliers will play the winner of Friday’s late game between West Georgia Tech and South Georgia at noon today with a chance for Darton to win five straight and keep their momentum going heading into next week’s East Central District Tournament.

“It’d be nice to dogpile on our own field,” Ilgenfritz said. “And just win it all.”

Colton Thomas and Luis Salas each finished 2 for 4, while William Golden went 1 for 3 to lead Darton’s offense.