Murphy – The Bulldogs’ baseball team hasn’t fared well in their two opening games, falling to Franklin 3-1 on the road, then dropping an 18-16 heartbreaker to Tellico Plains, Tenn., at home.
Murphy’s bats just couldn’t find their way in the first game at Franklin on Feb. 29. After going down in the first inning in order, Tommy Crapse hit Franklin’s Malachi Hayes with a pitch to give the Panthers their first base runner. He walked the next batter, and Jackson Hursey drove in a run with a base hit.
Jayden Russell followed that up with a hit that cleared the bases to give Franklin a 3-0 lead. Crapse settled down after that and retired the next three batters.
Murphy got a gift in the second inning, as Franklin pitcher, Abram Apel walked the first four batters. That resulted in the lone Murphy run for the game, as Caleb Kephart crossed the plate on the fourth walk of the inning. After that, Murphy’s bats went silent.
Crapse settled down the rest of the game and held Franklin scoreless as he pitched through the fourth inning, giving up three earned runs on three hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Colton Morgan came on to finish the game for Murphy and allowed no hits with two strikeouts and no walks.
The real story was Franklin’s pitching did not allow the Bulldogs a single hit in the game.
On March 4, Tellico Plains jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Murphy stormed back as the Bears gave up three walks, and Kephart was the recipient of the fourth walk that brought Crapse home. Colton Morgan walked as well, which brought Adam Cook home to give Murphy a 2-1 lead after one inning.
The Bears took the lead back in the second inning, when they picked up two more runs to take a 3-2 lead. Murphy came storming back in the bottom half of the second behind Cameron Clem’s two-RBI double. Clem later scored on a fielding error and Murphy led 6-3 at the end of two.
The Bears got two more runs in the top of the third to close the score to 6-5, but Murphy added five more runs in the bottom of the third to expand their lead to 11-5. It was the top of the fifth when the Bears exploded for six runs close the margin to 11-10.
The Bears retired the Dogs in the bottom of the fifth inning and continued their onslaught of runs in the sixth, adding six more runs to take a 17-11 lead. Murphy had one more rally left in them in the sixth inning. Hunter Stalcup and Crapse had walked and Alex Roland drove them in on a base hit. Two more Murphy batters, Cameron Clem and Caleb Kephart, walked to load the bases for Murphy.
Zack Hogsed lined one to left field, and the Bears’ outfielder made an error that allowed Murphy to clear the bases. Unfortunately for the Dogs, that was their last run and the Bears still led 17-16. Tellico would add one more run in the seventh.
The Bulldogs’ next game is Thursday, when they travel to take on Polk County. They return home to take on conference opponent Cherokee at 4:30 p.m. Friday.