By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
They officially played on the same baseball field, but the Clarke County Bulldogs and W.S. Neal Blue Eagles continued to head in opposite directions.
Clarke County capped off its dramatic run in Class 3A Area 1 with an 8-1 victory Tuesday. After the Bulldogs lost their Area opener to T.R. Miller, Clarke County won its final three games to catch the Tigers in the regular season standings.
Despite the Bulldogs run, T.R. Miller still got the number one seed out of Area 1 based on a better record against common opponents in Class 3A and up.
Meanwhile W.S. Neal's loss was its third straight and fourth in fifth games. The Blue Eagles will be sitting home when postseason play begins this week.
"You want to be playing your best ball at the end of the season and we're far from doing that," W.S. neal coach Coy Campbell said.
The same thing that cost W.S. Neal during much of its slide was the same thing that bit it again Tuesday, errors.
Five errors in Tuesday's game played a role in all eight Clarke County runs.
The Blue Eagles did not make life any easier for starting losing pitcher Daniel Hodge with an offense that produced just four hits.
Cody Anthony provided one bright spot for W.S. Neal with a single and a double. Whitney Qualls and Jared Cooper each had one.
At Clarke County
W.S. Neal 100 000 0 – 1 4 5
Clarke Co. 400 121 X – 8 8 0