By Lonnie Turner

Well, we’re in the short rows as some people say when you’re close to the end of something. There are only two weeks remaining in the Dixie Youth Baseball Major League season being held at the Kiwanis baseball facility and just one more game in the Minor League.

It can’t get a whole lot closer in the senior league with three teams virtually tied for first place. The Feed & Farm Rangers and Dillon Meat Center Reds have identical 9-4 records and just one-half game behind are the Dillon Family Dental Giants, sitting at 8 and 4. For the rest of this week, the Rangers are scheduled to play the Dillon Internal Medicine Hurricanes (5-7) on Thursday and the Reds take on the Giants in Friday’s last game at 8:15.

With the split season format, the second half team will have to play a best of three championship series to determine the season champs. The Rangers were first half champs and could wind up winning the second as they trail the Reds (4-1) and the Giants (3-1). The Rangers are a single game behind in the loss column at 3-2.

It should be a good two weeks of baseball at the ‘old ball park’ as it celebrates its 55th birthday this year. Bring the family out and enjoy our national pastime.

Going from Monday night’s games back, here are the summaries of games since May 26th.

Minors
Tuesday, June 3
Burger King Braves 14, McLeod Health Braves 2

The Braves broke out early with four runs in the first inning and coasted to a 14-2 win over the Marlins on Tuesday. Over the next three innings, the Braves scored five in the third and five more in fourth and avoiding a shutout, the Marlins scored two runs in their final at bat.

For the winners, four different batters collected a single each, including Preston Smith, Jaiden Chandler, Nate Ford, and Cade Williams. Avery Hewitt of the Marlins led all hitters with a pair of singles and Chandler Pittman joined Brady Bethea in contributing base hits in a losing cause.

ACE Hardware Tigers 9, Pepsi Cola Blue Jays 7

In Tuesday’s first game, the Minor League Champion Ace Hardware Tigers had an in-the-park homerun by Andrew Bryant to lead the Tigers to a 9-7 victory over the Blue Jays. Bryant added a single in two trips to lead all hitters. Troy Jones led off the game with a triple and scored ahead of Bryant.

The winners had RBI doubles by Dylan Windham, Zach Hunt, and Brock Mack and with one single each were Quashad Singleton and Temarrian Davis. Kyle Rowell singled and tripled for the Jays and Nigel George pitched in with a single.

Majors
Monday, June 2
Feed & Farm Rangers 4, Dillon Meat Center Reds 3

With the Reds leading the Rangers by a half game, this was a contest that many people were poised to see. The Reds rallied for two runs in the second and added another in the third to jump out to a 3-0 lead going into the Ranger fourth behind the one-hit pitching of Chase Dudney, but John Rourke lined a homer over the left field fence to start the fourth inning. Trent Johnson doubled with one out and scored on a single by Quamez Graves to cut the lead to one run.

In the Ranger half of the fourth inning, Jon-Michael Davis walked and scored on a hit by Jordan Mew. In an effort to cut Mew down at third, the ball from the outfield sailed across the dugout and out of the playing area, allowing him to score what would be the deciding run.

Rourke, the starting and winning pitcher, walked a pair in the bottom of the inning, settled down to get two of the last four batters that he faced on strikes, and the final out was a ground ball back to the mound.

The Rangers finished the game with five hits and the Reds collected six, two of which were doubles by “Endzone” Bethea and Malachi Bember. Collin Hamilton and Jared Ivey had the other hits.

Minors
Pepsi Blue Jays 8, McLeod Marlins 7

In Monday’s lone Minor League game, the Blue Jays used four pitchers and some timely hitting to stop the Marlins, 8-7.

The two batters at the top of the order for the Jays, Nigel George and Jeremy Byrd, had two hits each to lead the team at the plate. Holden Matthews completed the five-hit performance with an RBI single in a three-run first inning. Byrd was the starting pitcher and was credited with the win, allowing only one hit through two innings on the mound. The Marlins picked up only three hits: a double by Cadillac Hunt and singles by Brady Bethea and Chandler Pittman.

Majors
Saturday, May 31
Rangers 4, Yankees 2

Both Thursday night games were rained out and the second of two were washed out last Friday, sending all three to a Saturday morning schedule. The Yankees, winless this season, gave the Rangers a run for their money in the second game of the morning. Jackson Stone jumped on a BoBo McKinnon pitch in the first inning and drove it out of the park with Trent Johnson on board to take a quick 2-0 lead, but the Yankees came back in the second inning to score on an unearned run to cut the lead to one.

Jon-Michael Davis scored what would be the eventual winning run when he was hit by a pitch and scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the fourth. Zavion Tyson’s RBI double again cut the lead to one run when he doubled with Amari Huggins on base in the top of the fifth, but Tristian Brigman tripled and scored on Trent Johnson’s single before the 80-minute time limit expired to give the Rangers the 4-2 win.

BoBo McKinnon had the only other hit off winning pitcher Brigman, who struck out nine batters. The Rangers had only the hits by Tyson, Johnson, and Brigman off McKinnon, who also struck out seven.

Reds 6, Hurricanes 5

The Reds rallied in the bottom of the fifth inning to score a come from behind 6-5 win over the Hurricanes in Saturday’s first game. Nathan Hyler started the inning with a single and scored on Endzone Bethea’s triple to cut into a 5-3 Hurricane lead. Malachi Bember was safe on a fielder’s choice and Collin Hamilton lashed a single to right to score Bethea with the tying run and Bember with the winner.

Trent McNeill’s first homer of the season left the park just inches inside the right field foul pole to give the Hurricanes an early 2-0 lead in the first, but the orange-clad Canes weren’t quite through with the scoring. Josh Brown walked and scored the third run of the inning when Jared Darmon doubled to centerfield. The Canes scored two more in the second inning, taking advantage of a pair of walks and McNeill’s second hit of the game.

Bethea tripled twice for the Reds, driving in three runs. Hyler also had two hits in the game for the winners, both singles. Knox Jackson and Collin Hamilton also had hits for the Reds.

For the Hurricanes, in addition to McNeill, Darmon had two hits and getting a single each were Brandon Bethea, Charlie Collins, and Braedon Webster. Darmon took the loss and Chase Dudney, who went to the mound with the Reds trailing 5-3, was credited with the win.

Reds 11, Yankees 1

In a game that was suspended on Friday night due to a torrential downpour, the Reds had scored five times against the Yankees in the opening inning and the Yankees had come back with a run in the bottom of the inning when the rain came. The game was finished on Saturday in the three-game finale with the Reds scoring six more runs in their last at bat to win by the run-rule.

Collin Hamilton led the way at the plate for the Reds with three hits in as many times at bat and Barnes Causey joined Nathan Hyler with two hits each. Adding to the eleven-hit attack were Gage Hunt, double; Chase Dudney, double, two RBI; Andrew Chestnut, single; and Endzone Bethea, single.

BoBo McKinnon led off the game for the Yankees with a single and scored the lone run on a passed ball.

Friday, May 30
Giants 2, Rangers 0

The Giants shut out the Rangers 2-0 in Friday evening’s game prior to the rain and lightning storm. A pair of unearned runs is what it took to get the win for the Giants. Noah Carter and Nick Evans combined to pitch a one-hitter for the winners. Jackson Stone’s single to load the bases in the top of the sixth inning was the only hit…in fact, the only hit in the game.

Ranger hurler John Rourke threw a no-hitter and struck out 11 Giants in the losing cause. With runners at second and third base in the sixth, Tristian Brigman reached base on a fielder’s choice and Johnson was safe on an error leading up to the hit by Stone to load the bases. Evans, who had relieved Carter at the end of four innings, struck out the next two batters to end the game.

McLeod Marlins 10, Burger King Braves 1

The Marlins scored four runs in the second and third innings and added two more in the fourth to stop the Braves 10-1 in Friday evening’s only Minor League game. Hayden Lane tripled and singled in two plate appearances to lead the winners and Avery Hewitt hit a two-run double. Chandler Pittman had the only other hit for the Marlins. Nate Ford had two triples and D.J. Brogdon singled for the Braves.

Photos by Johnnie Daniels/THE DILLON HERALD. Click the images below to view at full size!