Bears blow out Loachapoka in first playoff round
Published 6:25 pm Tuesday, April 21, 2015
With 19-0 and 15-0 wins over the Loachapoka Indians on Monday afternoon, the Billingsley Bears punched their ticket to the second round of the Class 1A state high school baseball playoffs.
Multiple errors and three walks issued to the Bears in the first inning of Game 1 contributed to an early 6-0 lead for Billingsley.
With the Bears retiring the Indians in order for the second straight inning through the top of the second, Billingsley tacked on five more in the bottom half of the inning.
With Joseph Nixon aboard on an Indians error, Thomas Nichols gave the Bears two on with one out after a double up the middle.
A Dylan Chavers sacrifice fly to left scored Nixon, and a Garrett Harrell two-run single to the right scored Nichols and Kendal. Elrod, who reached on a walk.
After two Billingsley led 11-0.
A lone single was all of the offense for the Indians in the top of the third, while the Bears added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning.
An RBI single by Chavers and an RBI infield ground ball by Elrod extended the Billingsley lead to 13-0 after three innings of play.
With the Indians going in order through the top of the fourth inning, the Bears added six more in the bottom half of the inning.
A Dalton Davis single scored Harrell. Nichols plated Davis and Tyler Powell, who reached on a single, and a Chavers double scored Davis.
With Harrell scoring after reaching on a walk, the Bears took a 19-0 lead to the top of the fifth inning.
Chavers led the Bears at the plate in Game 1, going 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI.
Jamie Barnett handled the pitching and threw a five-inning shutout, striking out nine while allowing one hit and two walks.
Back-to-back doubles Nichols and Hunter Godwin got the Bears off on the right foot to start Game 2, as Billingsley staked out an early 3-0 lead after one inning of play.
After issuing an early walk to the Indians, Nichols retired the next three batters to end the top of half of the second inning.
In the home half of the inning, the Bears poured it on as every batter scored on the way to 12 runs in the inning.
After two innings of play, the Bears held a 15-0 lead.
With the third and top of the fourth inning going quietly for both teams, the game would be called in the bottom of the fourth inning by way of the mercy rule.
Harrell lead the Bears at the plate in Game 2 with a 2-for-2 performance with a double, triple and three RBI.
Nichols pitched three innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out seven.
For Round 2 of playoffs, the Bears will host the Verbena Red Devils with two games scheduled for Friday and a third if needed on Saturday.