Murphy – The “Diamond Dogs” were plagued by errors while dropping two games to Hayesville, falling to the Yellow Jackets 13-2 in Murphy and then 16-1 in Hayesville.
Murphy (4-7) committed 10 fielding errors in the first game on April 16 and gave up 13 runs on eight hits. Bulldogs’ pitching walked 10 batters and only struck out three.
That would have been bad enough, but what made it even worse was that it was against the league-leading team in the conference. Hayesville (9-0) batted .429 in the game as a team and tagged Murphy’s pitching for 10 earned runs. Meanwhile, the Dogs only hit for a .209 average.
Murphy started off well in the first inning as the retired the Jackets with no damage in the first inning, but that was short-lived. Hayesville exploded for four runs in the second inning. Hayesville’s first three batters reached on errors and that resulted in one run, and Cooper Matheson doubled to score two more runs in the second. Matheson later score via a sac fly to give Hayesville a 4-0 lead.
Murphy got a leadoff double to start the second, but stranded that runner on base as Hayesville ace Jackson Sellers struck out the next two batters and retired the third on a liner to third base. Murphy would strand a total of 10 base-runners.
Hayesville added a run in the third and another run in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead. Murphy threatened in the fourth, when Adam Cook had a leadoff single, but he was gunned down trying to steal second. The Dogs then went down quietly in the inning.
Hayesville extended its lead in the fifth inning, after getting two men on base via free passes and Chance Hughes singling to score both runs. Hughes later scored on a double from Dawson Devane, and the Jackets led 9-0.
Hayesville added another run in the top of the sixth inning and the Bulldogs finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth as Alex Roldan got on base after being hit by a pitch. Roldan was gunned down trying to steal second. Zach Skogen got the scoring started for the Dogs with a two out single Cameron Clem and Zach Hogsed walked to load the bases.
Colton Morgan doubled to drive in Skogen and Clem. Another hit batsman loaded the bases for the Dogs once again, but a groundout to the pitcher ended the inning, as Murphy cut into the lead with Hayesville leading going into seventh inning leading 10-2
Hayesville added another run in the seventh and shut down the Dogs in the bottom of the seventh to net the final score.
In the second game on April 19, Murphy started out with leadoff man Tommy Crapse reaching base via a walk. He then stole second base and later scored on an Adam Cook base hit, but that’s where the Dogs’ scoring ended for the game.
Hayesville regained the lead in the bottom of the first, when the Jackets loaded the bases via two walks and a Murphy error. Chance Hughes doubled to score two runs to give the Jackets a 2-1 lead at the end of one inning, a lead they would never relinquish.
Murphy would not sniff another hit until the top of the fifth inning, and no more runs for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, Hayesville added seven runs in the third inning, six more in the fourth and one more in the fifth to end the game early with a 16-1 win.
Hayesville’s Cade Caruso gave up one run on three hits, walking six and striking out seven. Murphy cut down on the errors in this game as they only committed six, but as good as Hayesville is playing they didn’t need any help from the Dogs.
“We have got to cut down on errors, not just the physical errors,” Murphy baseball coach Tyler Edwards said after the games. “We must learn to be smarter on the base paths and in the batter’s box.”
Murphy’s path doesn’t get any easier, as the Dogs
have a two-game series this week with Swain, which is third in the Smoky Mountain Conference standings. The face the Maroon Devils first at 4:30 p.m. Friday.