By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
Like most coaches when they reach an individual milestone, Jim Hart deflected the credit.
The veteran T.R. Miller baseball coach picked up his 200th career victory when his Tigers downed the visiting Flomaton Hurricanes 10-7 in the second game of a split team doubleheader Friday. Earlier T.R. Miller had disposed of the Jay (Fla.) Royals 7-1.
While appreciative of the milestone, Hart was even more appreciative of the 3-0 start by his 2006 squad.
Junior righthander Mackie Jackson threw six innings of two-hit ball with five strikeouts in the opener against Jay.
The Tigers got a one-out solo homerun from Jordan Cauley in the bottom of the first inning and led throughout the game. Baxley Raines, also scored in that first inning after he walked and Jay made two infield errors.
After Jay plated its lone run in the top of the second inning and pulled within 2-1, T.R. Miller extended its advantage to 4-1 in the bottom half of the inning on Tanner Shehan's RBI single and Becker Denton's RBI fielder's choice.
Shehan delivered the second of his three hits in the game and five hits on the day with another RBI single in the third inning to make it 5-1. Hayes Peace capped off the scoring with a two-run single in the sixth.
In the nightcap, the Tigers overcame a three-run deficit midway through to beat Flomaton.
T.R. Miller took a 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI single by Shehan, but Flomaton touched Tigers starting hurler Jordan Cauley for four runs in the top of the fourth inning to grab a 4-1 lead.
The Tigers stormed right back in the bottom of the fourth when a key infield error by the Hurricanes opened the door for a five-run rally. The big blow was a three-run triple by Brice Martin. Raines also had a key RBI single in the inning that put T.R. Miller up 6-4.
T.R. Miller's five-run fourth inning was followed up by a four-run fifth that took the lead to 10-4. Justin Marshall came through with a key two-run double and two more runs scored when the Hurricanes made an error on a single hit by Allen Williams.
While Cauley got the win after four innings of work, Williams worked the final three innings for the save. Williams had also worked a scoreless seventh inning in game one.
The Tigers are backing action Tuesday when they host Andalusia at 4 p.m.
Friday's game one
Jay 010 000 0 – 1 2 2
T.R. Miller 221 002 X – 7 11 2
Game two
Flomaton 000 400 3 – 7 9 3
T.R. Miller 010 540 X – 10 13 2
The Tigers opened their season Thursday with a 9-8, eight-inning victory over the visiting Excel Panthers.
T.R. Miller racked up eight quick runs and a four-run lead over the first two innings only to go scoreless over the next five innings.
That allowed the Panthers a door of opportunity to come back and Excel did that with a pair of runs in the third inning and single markers in the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game 8-8.
The Tigers finally got their offense going again in the bottom of the eighth when Tanner Shehan led off with a single and Jordan Cauley reached on an error by the second baseman. Baxley Raines, who had walked three previous times in he game, then came through with an RBI single to win the game.
Becker Denton helped stake T.R. Miller to the early 8-4 lead with an RBI single in a three-run first inning and a two-run single in a five-run second inning. Justin Marshall also had a key hit in the second inning uprising with an RBI double.
Denton, Shehan and Cauley both had a pair of hits to lead T.R. Miller's hitting, while Mikel Riggs, Marshall and Raines all had one.
Mackie Jackson, the third of three T.R. Miller pitchers, picked up the win with three big outs in the top of the eighth inning. Raines started and worked the first five before Denton relieved and worked into the eighth when Jackson entered.
At T.R. Miller
Excel 132 011 00 – 8 10 5
T.R. Miller 350 000 01 – 9 9 3