By By Adam Robinson
sports editor
Hit batters and key errors were the difference for the T.R. Miller Tiger baseball team Thursday in their first area game against Bayside Academy. They lost a doubleheader to the Admirals to fall to 5-3 overall and to 0-1 in area play.
The No. 6 Tigers in class 3A hit nine batters in the two games as they lost game one 3-2 in eight innings and game two 8-4.
The Tigers were set to be back in action Friday, March 19 at Cottage Hill in another area game.
Game time is set for 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. in Mobile.
Game one: Bayside Academy 3, T.R. Miller 2, eight innings
Despite Tiger pitcher Kevin Davis striking out 17 Admirals, his 49th strikeout in three games, the Tigers lost in extra innings to Bayside 3-2 to fall to 5-2 overall.
T.R. Miller’s two runs came in the first inning after Caleb McAnally connected for a two-run homerun that gave T.R. Miller a 2-1 lead over the Admirals after Bayside scored a run in the first on an error.
McAnally finished 2-for-4 with a homerun, double, and two RBIs.
Bayside would tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the third inning and the game would stay that way and force extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, a fifth hit batter put Bayside with runners on first and after a stolen base, had runners on second and no outs.
A passed ball put the Admirals runner at third and would score with no outs to go on top 3-2.
A walk put another runner for Bayside on but Davis struck out the next three batters to finish with 17 strikeouts.
In the bottom of the eighth inning with one out, McAnally almost connected for his second homerun of the game that would have tied the game at 3-3, but instead hit the ball off the fence for a double.
A walk and a Tiger fielder’s choice put runners on second and third with two outs and a walk to Cody Swain loaded the bases for T.R. Miller, but they would fail to score and lose 3-2.
Along with McAnally, Conner Denton was 2-for-4 and Davis was 1-for-3 along with Swain. Rob Knowles was 1-for-1 in the loss.
Davis had 17 strikeouts for his first loss and allowed three hits, hit five, walked two and had two earned runs.
Game two: Bayside 8, T.R. Miller 4
In game two, T.R. Miller led 1-0 until falling behind 8-1 after Bayside scored five runs in the fourth inning and three in the seventh inning.
The Tigers would later score three runs in the seventh inning to cut the lead to 8-4, but would not get any closer to lose by four and fall to 5-3.
Corey Rilling took the loss on the mound for T.R. Miller. He went four innings and allowed two hits, five runs, walked three, struck out eight and hit four.
Knowles went the final three innings and allowed three hits, three runs, walked three, and struck out two.
Denton was 1-for-3 with a double and Wes Dickey was 2-for-2 with a double and one RBI.
Davis was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Swain was 1-for-2. Knowles was 1-for-3 with a double and one RBI in the loss.
Bayside’s five run fourth inning came on two hits, one error for the Tigers and two hit batters and one walk.