By Staff
From staff reports
from staff reports
If nothing else, the Rays like to make things interesting.
The 11-12 year old division Rays have won two games in the last week with great defensive plays late, and by overcoming deficits of four runs or more.
Last Thursday was the latest adventure, as they overcame the A’s 8-7 in Little League play at the Sports Park.
In other games, the A’s turned around the next night to clobber Flomaton, 12-2, and the Phillies beat the Twins, 18-7.
In 9-10 division games, the Reds beat the Cubs 17-6 Thursday, while the Red Sox outlasted the East Brewton Red Sox, 9-7, the Reds bounced the East Brewton Cubs, 20-6,  and the Cubs fell to Flomaton, 12-1 last Tuesday.
If Dylan Etheridge seems a little protective of his “home” you’ll understand.
After all, he is a catcher and nobody is welcome at his “home”, especially someone trying to score from third on a pass ball. On Thursday night, he protected his territory well. With the tying run on third base with two outs in the bottom of the final inning, a pitch caromed off his shin guard and skirted away just far enough to bait the A’s runner.
As he broke for home, Etheridge retrieved the ball and got back to the plate just in time to make the tag and secure the thrilling win for the Rays.
While the Rays took an early 3-0 lead, the A’s erased it with a six-run explosion in the third inning.
The Rays cut the A’s lead to 7-6 after four innings, then got what proved to be the winning runs when Jake Najor slapped a two-run triple in the gap.
For the Rays, Walker Harris continued his hitting tear, leading the way with a 3-for-3 outing, while Najor, Etheridge and Jarrod Cooper each contributed two hits.
Chris Jones clobbered his second home run of the year and got the win on the mound in relief.
Todd Mayo led the A’s with a three-run triple, while Trin Miller added an RBI double.
Brooks Brown, Tyler Hoomes and Markail Mitchell also had hits.
A’s 12, FLOMATON 2
Tyler Reid got the win on the mound for the A’s, striking out three in 3 2/3 innings of work, while Trin Miller closed  it out in the fifth inning, striking out one.
PHILLIES 18, TWINS 7
The Phillies cracked three home runs in the game, two coming from Kyle Davis, which produced four RBIs.
The other came off the bat of Lowell Swain as the Phillies remained unbeaten within the league with the win. Jones Manning, who got the win on the mound, led all hitters with a 4-for-4 performance that included a pair of triples and a double, resulting in three RBIs.
Christian Mancil added three hits, including a double and Cole Blackmon had two hits. Christopher Gehman contributed a hit as well.
Will Smith led the Twins with a double, triple and five RBIs, while Keaton Parker contributed a pair of hits and scored two runs.
Duncan Brittain added a single and scored. Luke Agerton struck out four on the mound for the Twins.
REDS 17, CUBS 6
In Thursday’s only 9-10 division action the Reds cracked 12 hits – with Andrew Etheridge leading the way with three singles – and improved to 5-2. Garrett Salter got the win on the mound, striking out three while allowing just two hits in an inning and 2/3. Baylen Parker (three runs scored), Hunter Brittain (four runs scored), Salter (three runs scored) and Stokes Jennings each booked two hits apiece at the plate while O’Neil White had a single, drew three walks and scored four times.
Jordan Williams, Preston Townsend and Daniel Blair each had a hit for the Cubs.
RED SOX 9, EB RED SOX 7
In a Tuesday 9-10 division game, the Red Sox once again overcame an early deficit to come on strong late and win the game.
Down 7-3 going into the bottom of the third inning, the Red Sox plated six runs en route to improving to 6-1 overall.
Lane Clark and Joshua Winton combined for a two-hitter, with Clark getting the win in relief by striking out four in just two innings.
Clark led the way offensively as well for the Red Sox, going 2-for-2 with a double, a walk and scored three runs.
Troy Lewis also had a pair of hits, including a double.  
Winton, who started on the mound and struck out six in two innings of work, added an RBI single, walked twice and scored a run.
The East Brewton Red Sox got hits from Conner Huskey and P. Lovelace.
REDS 20, EB CUBS 6
Stokes Jennings, Andrew Etheridge and O’Neil White combined for the one-hit win on the mound as the Reds beat the East Brewton Cubs.
The Reds’ potent offense broke loose again as Hunter Brittain recorded a 3-for-3 performance, while Garrett Salter, White and Baylen Parker also added two hits. Christian Roye drew three walks and scored three times in the win.
T. Davis led the Cubs with an RBI double.
FLOMATON 12, CUBS 1
Matthew Bradford led the Cubs with a single, while Jordan Williams paced the Cubs defense with three dazzling plays at shortstop.