Darton Cavaliers beat Georgia Highlands in GCAA tournament

ALBANY — The Darton State College baseball team came running out of the dugout in the sixth inning of Thursday’s game against Georgia Highlands College.

The Cavaliers were on their way to welcome Cody Ilgenfritz to home plate after the sophomore hit the first homer of his college career to give Darton a three-run lead.

Darton scored a run in each of the next two innings to earn a 6-1 victory over the Chargers in the second round of the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association baseball tournament at Darton State.

Ilgenfritz, who also added another RBI in the seventh inning after a sacrifice bunt, estimates it is the first time he has a hit a home run in a game since he was 12.

“It felt great,” Ilgenfritz said. “I honestly didn’t know that it went out until I turned around and saw everyone looking at me. It felt good.”

The Cavaliers received a strong performance from starter Jeremy Beasley. The Clemson signee went seven innings and gave up just one run. He struck out seven batters and walked just one.

“He had a good three-pitch mix today,” Darton coach Scot Hemmings said. “He was probably throwing up around 90. First-team all conference and he’s going to Clemson, so that is the way he should be throwing.”

The lone run Beasley gave up came in the second when Georgia Highlands scored after back-to-back doubles by Kyle Burger and Drew Davis.

After the second inning, Georgia Highlands had just one runner advance beyond second.

Rabon Martin pitched a scoreless eighth and struck out one, while Brad Cammack pitched the ninth and struck out two.

The Darton offense totaled 13 hits and scored one run in each of the last four innings.

Despite the strong showing, the Cavaliers could have had more. However, they failed to land the big blow despite multiple chances.

“I thought it was a beautiful game,” Hemmings said. “We could have put them away in the third or fourth inning when we had the bases loaded. We just never got the big, dominating hit. We scored almost every inning and that is our game.”

Kendall Herron went 3 for 5 with a run scored and three singles. Denzell Gowdy, Landon Crowder, Mike Huggins and Tyler Morris each had an RBI.

The win keeps Darton in the winner’s bracket and means they will play again at noon on Friday in the semifinals.