The T.R. Miller Tiger baseball team used a big third inning and the pitching of Kevin Davis Thursday afternoon at home to claim a 10-3 area win over the Excel Panthers and improve their overall record to 8-1 and 1-0 in area play.
The Tigers scored eight runs in the third inning without making an out including a three-run homerun by Trent Robinson.
“This was a big win for us,” T.R. Miller Tiger head coach Jim Hart said. “We had a big inning in the third inning and we put the ball in play. Kevin pitched a heck of a ball game. We had a little letdown in the sixth inning. We have to understand when we get them down, we have to go ahead and get it finished. We swung the bats good though and I was pleased with that. We left to many on base again and that might come back and bite us in the end. We can’t do that and beat people. We will continue to get better at that and overall.”
In the game Friday, the two teams played to a 0-0 tie through the top of the third until the Tigers broke the game open in the bottom of the inning.
A leadoff error was followed by a single and then a hit batter led to four straight singles for the Tigers. After the four singles, Robinson connected for a three-run homerun to give the Tigers an 8-0 lead with no outs in the inning. Excel cut the lead to 8-3 in the top of the sixth before T.R. Miller scored two more runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 10-3 lead.
Davis would strikeout two Panthers in the top of the seventh to end the day with 18 strikeouts as T.R. Miller earned the win by seven.
Davis earned the win on the mound going the complete game allowing three hits, three runs, two earned, walked and hit two while striking out 18.
Collin Graves led T.R. Miller at the plate along with Robinson going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Robinson went 1-for-2 with a homerun and three RBIs.
Conner Denton was 1-for-3 along with Jacob Fillmore. Caleb McAnally was 1-for-4 with one RBI and Ryan Hunt was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
Caleb Dickey was 1-for-2 with one RBI.