Thorsby baseball knocks off Calera

Published 6:51 pm Friday, March 6, 2015

The Thorsby Rebels baseball team continued its winning ways on March 3, taking down the Calera Eagles on the road, 12-5.

Both teams battled defensively to open the contest, preserving a scoreless tie through the first two innings.

The Rebels struck first, as a walk to Zachary Morris put courtesy runner Kenneth Mims on first with no out.

After a strikeout, Mims reached third as an error by Calera allowed Grayson Bice to reach first.

Conner McRae singled to left to score Mims, moving Bice into scoring position.

Bice later scored on an error by the Eagles.

McRae later came home to put the Rebels up 3-0, and a Bailey Sellers single to center put a man on with two out for Thorsby.

Tyler Bowden, serving as a courtesy runner for Sellers, scored on a wild pitch later in the inning to extend the Rebels’ lead to 4-0.

A three-up, three-down showing for Calera ended the third inning, and the Rebels tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth.

Kevin Mims singled to center to reach base, later scoring on a McRae sac fly. Grayson Bice—who reached via single earlier in the inning—scored on a Chris Brown single to right to put Thorsby up, 6-0, midway through the fourth.

Wesley Posey scored next for Thorsby, crossing home on a Morris single to center after being hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.

It was the only run in the top of the fifth for the Rebels, who extended the lead to 7-0.

Calera tacked on a run in the bottom of the inning, but Thorsby answered when Brown scored on a throwing error in the top of the sixth to give Thorsby a 8-1 lead.

The final four Rebel runs came in the top of the seventh, as Phillip Rhodes, Brad Strange, McRae and Brown all came across to give Thorsby a 12-1 lead.

Calera added four runs in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little, too late, as Thorsby cruised to the 12-5 win.

Sellers went 3-for-5 at the plate, knocking in two RBI; while Brown went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI and McRae went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI.

Sellers tossed five innings, surrendering three hits and striking out five.