Chris Whitaker
AMERICUS — Marion County put two 6-run innings together and beat Americus-Sumter 14-3 on Monday for its second win against the Panthers this season.
Kain McTaggart had three hits and three runs scored, and Nick Hunter had three hits, including a RBI-double in the third and three RBI for the game. Casey Hess added two hits and three RBI, including a RBI-double in the third and a two-run single in the fourth.
"This was a good all around performance by our boys and our best game of the season," said coach Derek Goodroe. "The middle of our lineup is really hitting the ball well right now."
The Panthers (0-5) held 1-0 and 3-2 leads until the fourth when the Eagles (5-2) knocked pitcher Ben McLemore from the game. McLemore allowed eight runs — five earned — with five walks and two strikeouts.
Andrew Alford pitched the final two, allowing six runs with three strikeouts and three walks.
"The thing is, we'll get better with experience," said Panthers coach Steve Smith. "We had problems throwing strikes, and it caught up with us. Marion County was very patient, and when we weren't getting strikes on our curve balls, our fast balls, they were driving them away.
"I think we played better, even though our region has better baseball teams as far as talent. We play better against the bigger teams, and when we start playing smaller teams, we produce more errors. We're going to take one day at a time and get better."
Javin Butler had a fielder's choice for a RBI in the second inning for a 1-0 lead. After Marion went up 2-1 in the third, Americus-Sumter answered with a Slade Dominick RBI-single and an A.J. Hightower fielder's choice for a RBI.
Marion had 10 hits compared with six for Americus-Sumter; Butler had the lone extra-base hit for the Panthers.
Smith wants his pitchers to have complete games, and while that's asking a lot at the beginning of the season, he believes it will pay dividends later in the season.
"Right now, we should be in shape to do that," he said. "I would like us to be better at this time, but right now we're pitching five different kids, and we haven't had anybody step forward that could pitch consistently a complete game. Every time we move a pitcher, we change defenses because all our pitchers are on the field. You're more and more going to see younger pitchers, but we are staying positive."
Blane Howell got the win for Marion, allowing six hits with eight strikeouts and three walks.
"We played sound defense, hit the ball well and got a good pitching performance from Blane," said Goodroe. "If we continue to play at this level, good things will happen for us, but we still have to keep moving forward."
The Panthers host Chattahoochee County at 5 p.m. today while Marion travels to Schley County for a 5:30 p.m. start.
