BULLDOGS SPLIT
(Jon Menard - Andalusia Star)

The Andalusia varsity baseball team split a Saturday series with Thomasville and Enterprise, holding on for a 4-3 victory over the Tigers before coming up short in a nine-inning contest with the Wildcats, 10-12.

Andalusia 4    Thomasville 3

The Bulldogs played one of their most complete games of the season in their first match-up with Thomasville. Bulldog pitcher Chris Atkins kept the Tiger offense off the scoreboard for the first three frames and relied on a big fourth inning from the Andy bats to push the Bulldog lead to 4-1.
Thomasville would pick up solo runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but Taylor Culbreth eventually shut down the Tigers with two straight seventh inning strikeouts to give the Bulldogs the win.
Andalusia got on board first in the bottom of the second, after Jeffry Etheridge led off the inning with a line drive double to right field. Cory Dukes then smashed a ground ball, which was turned into a double thanks to a Thomasville error, giving Etheridge enough time to make his way across the plate for the first run of the game.

Atkins came out on fire in the third, forcing three straight ground outs to give his team another chance to pad their lead.  However, even though Ryan Godwin led off the third frame with a single, Thomasville pitcher Paul Noble soon forced three straight ground outs of his own to keep the Andy margin at one run.
The Tigers didnšt waste anytime tying up the contest in the fourth, with Jake Overstreet smashing a deep home run to left center to finally put his team on the board. That tying shot didnšt rattle Atkins though, who responded with a strike out before forcing a pop-up and a ground out to end the inning.
The Andalusia bats would explode shortly after.

Though the Bulldogs began the frame with two straight outs, James Hogg lined a single to give the Bulldogs a chance to take the lead. Justin Ainsworth soon followed suit with a single of his own, with Nick Cooper knocking a double to center to score Hogg for a 2-1 Andy lead. A single by Godwin then scored Ainsworth and Cooper and Andalusia had stormed ahead for the biggest lead of the game at 4-1.
Those runs proved to be all Andalusia would need, as the defense stepped up with the game on the line to hold on for the 4-3 victory.

Andalusia 10    Enterprise 12

After jumping out to an early lead against Thomasville, the Bulldogs went in the opposite direction against the Wildcats. In fact, it looked like this game was going to be over in the fifth inning because of the 10-run rule.  However, Andalusia showed enough heart to slowly climb back into the game, outscoring Enterprise 7-0 in the last two innings of regulation to send the game into extra time.

The Bulldogs then battled Enterprise in a scoreless eighth inning, before surrendering the two winning runs in the top of the ninth.  Enterprise took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second after Collin Christian reached base on an error. A pinch runner then came into the game and promptly stole second with a single by Trent Matherly bringing the runner home for a 1-0 Wildcat lead.

Enterprise then picked up three runs in the third, all on errors, before adding three more in the fourth for a 7-0 lead. Things didnšt get any better for Andalusia in the top of the fifth, as Enterprise again took advantage of some costly Bulldog turnovers to jump out to a 10-0 lead.  Needing a single run to keep the game going, the Bulldog offense responded with their best inning since earlier that day. Tom Wright earned a walk to finally get a runner on base, with Godwin lining a single to put Wright in scoring position. Etheridge was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Aaron Haag came through with a double to deep right field that brought across all three runners.

Matthew Jernigan, who had come in for Matt Mellown in the fifth, then held the Wildcats scoreless in the sixth, using three straight strikeouts to set the stage for more Bulldog runs.  Jernigan and Hogg were both hit by pitches to begin the frame, and were able to steal third and second thanks to a passed ball. Cooper then blasted a single that scored pinch-runner Atkins, with Godwin hitting into a fielderšs choice to score Hogg minutes later, cutting the Enterprise lead to 10-5.

Etheridge then knocked a double to move Cooper to third, with Haag once again coming through with another double to empty the bases and give Andy their seventh run of the game.  After Mellown once again loaded the bases with another single, Jernigan picked up a walk to score Haag for the last Andy run of the inning.  Though Andalusia had succeeded in making the score much more respectable, they intended to pick up the win. 

Jernigan once again held Enterprise scoreless in the seventh, with the Bulldogs bringing in two more runners in the bottom of the frame to send the game to extra innings.  Cooper kicked off the inning by jacking a single, then made his way to second on a wild pitch. A triple by Godwin then scored Cooper, with the junior coming in to score shortly after on a passed ball for the tying run.

Neither team managed to make a mark in the eighth, though Enterprise had runners in scoring position before a beautiful double play by Andy ended the Wildcat threat. The ninth was another story, as Enterprise once again picked up two runs on Andy errors.