By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
W.S. Neal continued to close in on the .500 mark from the wrong direction Friday when the Blue Eagles dropped an 11-2 decision to the host Thomasville Tigers.
It was the fifth loss in six games for the Blue Eagles, who fell to 9-8 for the season.
W.S. Neal took a brief 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Jared Cooper's RBI double, but Thomasville answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead for good.
Those runs turned out to be the first of nine unanswered runs by the Tigers, who broke the game open with a five-run second inning and another marker in the fourth.
Josh Sawyer, who scored W.S. Neal's other run in the sixth inning after a wild pitch on a strikeout, had three of the Blue Eagles six hits. Tyler Brown had two, while Cooper's double was the other hit.
Starting hurler William Shell suffered the loss, as he gave up eight runs on seven hits with two strikeouts in three innings of work.
W.S. Neal heads to Jay, Fla. Monday for a 4:30 p.m. game.
At Thomasville
W.S. Neal 100 001 0 – 2 6 4
Thomasville 350 102 X – 11 12 1
Flomaton blanks Eagles
Will Hines got the best of Josh Sawyer in a tough pitcher's duel Thursday when the host Flomaton Hurricanes edged the Blue Eagles 1-0.
Sawyer allowed just two hits and a walk in a complete game effort, but fell victim to an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth. Keegan Lambeth singled with one out and moved up a base on a groundout. Scott Walton was walked intentionally before Hines reached on an error. A wild pitch sent Lambeth home with the lone run of the game.
At Flomaton
W.S. Neal 000 000 0 – 0 4 2
Flomaton 000 001 X – 1 2 0
Jay downs Eagles
Jay, Fla. continued its mastery of the Blue Eagles on the W.S. Neal diamond Wednesday when it rolled to a 9-2 win.
The Royals, who beat the Blue Eagles 25-3 two years ago and 13-3 last year, have outscored W.S. Neal by a combined 47-8 margin in their last three trips to East Brewton.
Jay raced out to a 5-0 lead in its first two at-bats and led 6-0 overall before W.S. Neal got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning with an unearned run. A double by Josh Sawyer, a single by James Freeman and an error on a ball hit by Jared Cooper broke up the shutout.
W.S. Neal's other run did not come until the bottom of the seventh inning when James Freeman singled, Jared Cooper was hit by a pitch and Jake Smith delivered an RBI single.
At W.S. Neal
Jay 140 010 3 - 9 12 2
W.S. Neal 000 010 1 - 2 6 2
Eagles blank Monroe County
William Shell and Josh Sawyer combined on a three-hit shutout to lead the Blue Eagles to a 12-0, five-inning victory at Monroe County Tuesday.
Shell allowed three hits and struck out four and walked only one over the first four innings before Sawyer pitched a one-two-three fifth inning to close things out.
RBI singles by James Freeman and Jake Smith in the first inning gave the Blue Eagles the only runs they needed, but it was a five-run third inning by W.S. Neal's bats that broke the game open.
Bobby Freeman and Jared Cooper both had two-run singles in the key frame, while Smith came through with his second RBI single in three innings.
Tyler Nall had the biggest blow in a seventh inning rally when he hit a two-run homerun.
At Monroe County
W.S. Neal 205 14 - 12 12 1
Monroe Co. 000 00 - 0 3 2