Yellowjackets' buzz better than Hornets
February 26, 2011
Starkville baserunner Blake Dawkins, left, looks to beat out a play at first base on Saturday afternoon against Greenville. (Kim Murrell/SDN)
By DANNY P. SMITH
sdnsports@bellsouth.net
The Starkville Yellowjackets had the same number of hits on Saturday as they did in Friday night's season-opening win.
Against the Greenville Hornets, the margin of victory for the Jackets was much more than it was against Pearl.
Starkville followed up its 2-1 win against Pearl with an 18-2 decision over Greenville in five innings at home.
The Jackets benefitted from 15 walks to help the offense along, but the frequent base on balls didn't help them get into an offensive rhythm at the plate with only four hits for the second-straight outing.
Starkville baseball coach Danny Carlisle was happy to see his squad improve to 2-0, but knows there's still work to be done on offense.
"We need to get better at the plate," Carlisle said. "You are up there and you get ball two, ball three, strike one and you get in no hitting rhythm at all, but I'm proud of the guys."
Carlisle thought the Jackets played decent defense, only making two errors late, and he said the SHS pitchers "threw well in spots."
"We got ourselves in a little bit of trouble here and there, but I was proud of the guys," Carlisle said. "They did what had to be done."
After Greenville scored one run on two hits in the first, Starkville sent 15 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first and 11 of them scored.
The Jackets used eight-straight walks for most of their first-inning offense.
Starkville added seven runs on three hits in the second inning to increase the lead to 18-1. Blake Harrell had a two-run triple and Nathan Pugh delivered an RBI single.
The outcome at that point was not in doubt and Carlisle used that opportunity to allow younger players into the lineup.
"We got a lot of people in the game and they probably didn't play as long as they all wanted to, but you can't play everybody everyday," Carlisle said. "The thing about it, you earn your spot in practice. You don't just come out and earn it on game day."
Harrell's triple was the only extra base hit for the Jackets, while Nick Brooks, Blake Dawkins and Pugh had one single each.
Lee Peeples was the starting and winning pitcher for SHS with two innings. He was followed by Max Bartlett and Pugh.
The Jackets will travel into Lowndes County Tuesday night for an encounter with the New Hope Trojans.
