The T.R. Miller Tigers were on the road Saturday as they played the Andalusia Bulldogs in the AHS round robin tournament. The Bulldogs defeated the Tigers 11-1.

The Tigers played well starting off the first inning the score was 1-1. Then the Tigers started losing their momentum that they had the beginning of the game and starting falling behind the Bulldogs.

The Tigers did well on the defensive end not allowing the Bulldogs to score in the second and third innings. However, they couldn’t maintain them in the fourth, where the Bulldogs outscored them 3-0 and being outscored 7-0 in the sixth. “We are making a lot of mistakes that are putting us in holes,” head coach Kevin Madden said.

Senior Drew Williamson had three plate appearances, two at bats, one run and one hit. Williamson also had one double and one walk. Hunter Johnson had two plate appearances, two at bats, one hit and a triple and Landon Sims had three plate appearances, three at bats and one hit. Trenton Johnson had three plate appearances, three at bats, and one hit and run batted in.

“It’s early in the year where we are trying to get pieces together and get better and our young experience will help us down the road,” Madden said. At bat the Tigers averaged .190, with 25 plate appearances, 21 at bats, one run, four hits and one runs batted in. Madden said, “We have good runners, we are just not getting the big hits right now, and that we have to get some consistency.”

The Tigers Logan Bush earned two putouts and two assists. Wyn Brittain had six putouts and Kyle Blevins had one putout and two assists. The Tigers. Madden said, “our young players are playing well and stepping up, but we just have to put it all together.”

The Tigers played Sweetwater late last week and lost 7-0 and lost to GW. Long 9-7 on Saturday as well. “We have to focus on putting the pieces in place, and then we can play our best baseball,” Madden said.

In the opening game of the day, the Bulldogs fell behind early, but battled back for an 11-1 victory.

T.R. Miller’s Drew Williamson led off the top of the first inning with a hard-hit single. Williamson advanced to second off an error.

Andalusia’s Jacob Cravey retired the next two batters, but then a two-out single from Trentez Johnson drove in Williamson to put the Tigers up 1-0.

Garrett Davis drew a one-out walk to start the Bulldogs’ half of the first and moved up to second on a single from Hogan Nichols.

The Bulldogs then tied the game with a two-out single from Sebaskin Stallworth.

T.R. Miller got a lead off single from Landon Sims in the top of the second inning, but Cravey retired the next three Tiger batters.

In the top of the third inning, Cravey picked up steam as he struck out the first two batters in the inning.

The next batter ripped what appeared to be a single into right field, but Stallworth came charging in and threw a strike to Will Clark at first base just before the runner got there for the third out.

Ethan Wilson got an infield single to start the bottom of the third inning, but the Bulldogs were unable to move him around to score.In the bottom of the fourth inning, Cravey drew a one-out walk to get things started for the Bulldogs.The Tigers tried to pick Cravey off at first, but the throw sailed wide and rolled along the fence.Cravey found himself at third following the error.

The Bulldogs made the two-out error hurt as another error off the bat of Gill Morgan allowed Cravey to score the go-ahead run.Wilson followed with a hard-hit ball that caused another error and allowed Morgan to score.

Davis followed with an RBI single that put the Bulldogs up 4-1 after four innings of play.The score remained 4-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Bulldogs opened up the flood gates and ended the game via the 10-run mercy rule.

“We started off flat at the plate, but I was very proud of the way that Jacob Cravey competed on the mound,” Andalusia head coach Tyler Dent said. “Our bats started coming around later in the game and we executed on a few hit-and-runs. Anytime you win, it’s exciting.”

The Tigers are scheduled to play the following games this week:

• March 8, Excel, at T.R. Miller, 6 p.m.
• March 9, Pace, at Pace, starting with JV at 4:30 p.m. following with the varsity at 6 p.m.