SPORTS BRIEFS: Darton baseball tops Gordon College again

Darton baseball tops Gordon College again

For the second straight day, Darton defeated Gordon College. On Wednesday, the Cavaliers took a 17-2 victory in Barnesville to improve to 14-7 overall, 2-0 in Region 17 play.

Jeremy Beasley earned the victory on the mound to improve to 3-1 on the season. He allowed just one earned run in six innings of work, striking out five. Taylor Ferringer worked a scoreless seventh.

Mike Huggins highlighted an offensive explosion, going 5-for-5 with two RBIs and an double. Tavin Thompson went 4-for-4 with four doubles and two RBIs. Kendall Herron went 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a double, Max Thomas finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and a double, Tyler Morris finished 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs and Luis Salas went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The Cavaliers will play host to Lake Michigan Friday at 6 p.m.

Lee County baseball beats Coffee

The Lee County baseball team improved to 7-1 on the season following a 3-1 victory over Coffee Wednesday night in Leesburg.

Lee County starter Matt Hatcher and reliever Dean Tompkins combined to strike out 11 Coffee batters. Tompkins earned the victory in relief.

Lee managed just five hits in the game. Robbie Feagans led the offense with two hits.

The Trojans will open Region 1-AAAAAA play Friday night, playing host to Lowndes. Game time has been moved to 6 p.m.

Baconton baseball beats Worth County

Pitcher Brooks Pinson helped Baconton top Worth County 9-5 Wednesday afternoon. Pinson worked five and two-thirds innings and allowed Worth County just two hits. He struck out six.

Reece Bozeman went 2-for-3 to lead Worth County while Aaron Franks had a double. Chandler Brooks, Shelby Cox, Cody Reddell and Hunter Goodwin all had RBIs for Worth.

Baconton was led by Taber Raley on offense, who went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Christian Bostick and Brantley Morgan each went 2-for-4 for the Blazers. Bj Classon and Trey Williams finished with two RBIs apiece, while Zach Oneal and Donavan Hurst each had an RBI.

Worth County baseball falls to Cairo

Despite outhitting Cairo, Worth County dropped a 4-3 decision to the Cairo Syrupmakers late Tuesday night.

Denzell Gowdy led the Rams’ offense, going 3-for-4. Tyler Moore finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Tripp Goff went 1-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.

Rodgriguez’s first outing produces hit, walk

Ever since Alex Rodriguez resurfaced from a year out of the spotlight while serving his 162-game suspension for his role in Biogenesis, the questions were abundant.

Among them were how would he do facing major league pitching for the first time since Sept. 25, 2013, and how would fans react.

Nobody knows for certain once the regular season begins April 6, but on Wednesday the Yankees and everyone else had their first glimpse of Rodriguez in a game setting.

As for the results, they were not awful. Rodriguez batted second and was 1 for 2 with a walk against three Philadelphia Phillies pitchers.

In his first at-bat against right-hander Kevin Slowey, Rodriguez swung and missed two fastballs, looking slow in terms of bat speed. On the third fastball, he lined a soft single into left field.

In his second at-bat against Paul Clemens, Rodriguez swung at the first pitch and grounded out to shortstop for the final out of the third inning.

Rodriguez’s final plate appearance came with two on and nobody out in the fifth, and though he did not drive in the run, he was able to get a walk against Ethan Martin.

Before the three appearances, Rodriguez received a mostly positive reaction from the crowd at Steinbrenner Field. He heard cheers during pregame introductions and also heard a mix of cheers and boos from the crowd of 9,673 as he stepped into the batter’s box for his initial at-bat.