South Georgia State upends Darton baseball

ALBANY — Darton State College baseball coach Scot Hemmings had his right arm in motion, signaling for John Cable to head home from second base.

But the third base umpire ruled Denzell Gowdy’s rifling ground ball went just foul and instead of Gowdy potentially tying the game with a bases-loaded single, the freshman headed back to the batters box where a nasty breaking ball caught him looking for the game’s final out.

Darton fell to South Georgia State College 7-4 Thursday night to even the series after the Cavaliers blew out the Hawks 17-5 on Tuesday.

“Did you think that ball was fair?” Hemmings asked a reporter after the game.

Darton fans groaned after the ball appeared to have sailed over the bag at third base in fair territory.

Gowdy’s shot could have potentially tied the game after the Cavaliers (22-14 overall, 7-3 Region 17) had loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. However, it was a game where Darton mustered just four hits off South Georgia State pitching.

The Cavaliers will play host to the Hawks in a key conference doubleheader on Saturday that begins at 1 p.m.

The story of the game was South Georgia pitcher Cayden Hatcher, who kept the Cavaliers off-balanced.

Darton scored all of its runs to tie the game at 3 in the fifth inning on just one hit. The Cavs plated two runs on an error, then John Cable’s RBI groundout scored Colton Thomas.

But South Georgia State quickly punched four runs across the plate in the sixth as they took control.

“You have to tip your hat to Hatcher,” Hemmings said. “That guy is Division I and he showed it tonight. But we’re 1-1 in the series, still in first-place in the conference and we’re in good shape.”

The Hawks didn’t do anything fancy to build a 3-0 advantage after six innings. They put the ball in play, then manufactured runs by moving players into scoring position.

Darton had its chances. They left runners at second and third in the first inning and stranded runners at second base in both the second and third innings.

“We had some opportunities early that we didn’t capitalize on,” Hemmings said. “But we’ll come back out and go at it again on Saturday.”

Justin Henle, hitting No. 8 in the lineup, went 2 for 2 to lead the offense and had an RBI on a deep sacrifice. Landon Crowder and Mike Huggins had the team’s other two hits. Huggins finished 1 for 3 with a double.