AMERICUS —
On Thursday night in Americus the Americus-Sumter Panthers’ baseball team welcomed the Westover Patriots to town with hopes of knocking off the nearby foe and earning a Region 1-AAA win. Despite a strong pitching effort from Cameron Smarr, the Panthers’ offense never was able to find their grove, and the Patriots escaped Americus with a very close one run victory.
Westover jumped to a 2-0 lead with a run in the first inning, and another in the third inning. Americus-Sumter would answer in the bottom of the fourth inning with a run, but a pivotal score from Westover in the top of the fifth would be enough to earn the win for the Patriots. Americus-Sumter would only score one more run in the bottom of the sixth as the Patriots claimed the 3-2 Region 1-AAA victory.
Smarr had a great night, throwing a complete game and only giving up two earned runs. The other run scored was an unearned run due to an error by the Panthers. Smarr struck out three while only waking one and giving up only eight hits over his seven complete innings of work.
At the plate, Smarr also had one of the Panthers’ two hits on the evening. The Panthers were only able to manage two singles off of the Westover starter, and Mike Russell got the other hit for the Panthers.
Junior first baseman Bryce Benton scored the Panthers’ two runs on the evening. In the fourth inning, Benton scored on a single. The last run was scored in the sixth inning when Benton stole third base and then took home on a wild throw by the catcher.
Americus-Sumter head coach Todd Vickery was proud of his teams performance, and he knows that they were just one break from winning a tough game. “We played well and we got a great pitching performance from Smarr. We cut down on our strikeouts, but we would like to have more line drives,” said Vickery.
The Panthers will return to action at 6 p.m. today to take on the visiting Cairo Syrupmakers. Americus-Sumter will be hosting their annual Cancer Awareness game, and the players will be wearing pink jerseys to support the cause.
The Panthers will then honor their seniors at 5:30 p.m. at home on Friday, April 13 against the Dougherty County Trojans.
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Related Photos
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Cameron Smarr (above) threw a complete game on Thursday for the Panthers. Smarr and the Panthers fell one run short of knocking off their Region 1-AAA foe Westover. Scott Phillips
Americus-Sumter baseball team falls 3-2 to Westover
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