On a warm spring afternoon, the Scots put it all together for a trouncing 12-0 victory over the Cobras. The bats came out swinging from the first pitch: Jason Pope went 3-5 (2 doubles), Justin Greer and Ty McTier both went 1-1, Taylor Oldham went 2-4 (2 RBI), Jared Carlson went 4-4 (2 RBI), and Thomas O'Ban and Harrison Fisher both went 1-3.
In the first inning, the Scots put one on the board with Taylor Oldham's sac fly. In the second inning Jared Carlson doubled and Harrison Fisher came through with the sac fly to score the second run. The Scots came out for a big fourth inning. Jared Carlson led it off with a line drive single, followed up by Harrison Fisher's single. Sam Hogan then hit a ball to the right side to score pinch runner Brandon Hagopian. Jason Pope then doubled to cash in Fisher followed by Blaine Newton's RBI double. In the fifth inning, Jared Carlson led the inning off with yet another single which Thomas O'Ban doubled in. In the sixth inning Justin Greer found the 5/ 6-hole for a leadoff single. Oldham then doubled to set up Carlson for a 2-RBI single. In the seventh inning Pope and Greer singled after which Oldham came up with an RBI single to throw the final punch for the 12-0 lead.
To match the slug-fest, Chris Henegar threw a two-hit complete game shut-out. In this gem, he came away with four strikeouts. All day he worked t he counts to his advantage (with a 2:1 strikeout-to-ball-ratio) forcing the Cobras to groundout seven times and to fly out six times. With the Scots first conference win, they look forward to following it up with two more wins tomorrow afternoon.
On Saturday afternoon, the Scots came out looking for two wins and got 'em (13-2, 15-2). In game one, the Scots found success at the plate: Hogan (1-3), Pope (2-4, HR, 3 RBI), Duckett (2-3, double), Oldham (2-2, 2 RBI), Furuto (2-2), Carruth (1-1), O'Ban (2-4, triple, 2 RBI), and Fisher (3-3, 2 singles, double, 5 RBI). the Scots jumped out scoring first again. Hogan and Pope's laced back-to-back singles into the outfield. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Oldham hit one in. In the fourth inning, the Scots opened up a 5-1 lead. After Furuto saw eight pitches to draw a walk, Thomas O'Ban tripled him in. Fisher took the RBI single to score O'Ban, and then Pope hit the two-run jack over the left field wall. Not settling for anything, the Scots doubled their lead in the fifth inning. Colby Duckett led-off with a double followed by Oldham's RBI single. Furuto singled to right field moving Oldham to third base. Then Fisher cashed in two runs with a double. Pope then hit the runner on third in with a hard groundball to shortstop. Even after taking a 10-1 lead, the Scots had more business to take care of in the sixth and final inning. Oldham singled, J. Greer, walked, and Furuto singled in another run. With men on second and third base, Fisher came up big again with a 2 RBI single for the final dagger in game 2.
On the mound, Brent Neas showed his unmatched focus and intensity through six innings of work giving only one earned run. Despite some first inning defensive struggles, Neas came up big with a better than 2:1 strikeout-to-ball-ratio. With the count to his advantage, Neas forced the Cobras into nine groundouts and three fly outs. At the end of six innings, the Scots defeated the Cobras 13-2.
On the hunt to complete the sweep, the Scots went to work methodically burying the Cobras 15-2 in five innings. At the plate, the Scots jumped all over the Cobras pitching staff: Pope (2-4, double, triple, 2 RBI), Newton (1-2, RBI), J. Greer (2-4, 2 RBI), Oldham (2-4, 2 RBI), J. Frederick (2-3, 1 RBI), Carlson (3-4, 2 RBI), and O'Ban (2-3, 2-run HR). From the first inning, the Scots showed that they wanted the sweep. Pope tripled and Newton singled him in. J. Greer followed suit with a single of his own. J. Frederick and Carlson then both hit RBI singles for a three-run first inning. In the second inning, Fisher led-off with a hit-by-pitch. He then stole second, Hogan advanced Fisher to third, and Pope's hard ground ball to second scored Fisher. In the third inning, the Scots blew the game open once again. Oldham singled, j. Frederick was hit by a pitch. Then Carlson came up with a 2 RBI single. Thomas O'Ban then hit a two-run bomb (his first career HR). Although the fourth inning was a bit quiet, the Scots scored run after run in the fifth inning. J. Frederick singled, Carlson singled, and O'Ban found his way on with a drag bunt. Hogan then singled in one run; Pope doubled in three runs; Newton walked; and J. Greer took the RBI single; and Oldham tripled in the last two runs.
On the mound, Demarius Johnson shut down the Cobras' bats with his fastball all day. DJ finds the win (complete game) only giving up two earned runs with five strikeouts.
After sweeping the Cobras, the Scots look forward to carrying this confidence into their double header at Lee University (Cleveland, TN) on Tuesday starting at 4:00 p.m.
