Warriors hold on to playoff hopes

With three games left to play, the LFO Warriors began the new week still in the hunt for one of the four Class 3A state tournament berths from Region 6, but can not afford another loss in the last week of the regular season.

The Warriors (15-9, 8-7) will play at Murray County on Tuesday before hosting playoff contender Bremen for Senior Night on Thursday. Friday will see LFO in another huge game at Adairsville.

Ringgold has already clinched the region title, while Calhoun, Bremen and Adairsville are all tied for second place at 10-5 in the standings. Haralson County sits in fifth place at 9-6, one game ahead of LFO.

LFO 15, North Murray 3

Last Monday, the Warriors sent a dozen batters to the plate in the top of the third inning and watched nine of them score as they went on to rough up the Mountaineers in Chatsworth.

LFO took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Jackson Herrod scored on a wild pitch and Matthew Trusley came home on a sacrifice bunt by Jarrett McAfee.

But the damage was done in the third. Jake Bass had a pair of RBI-singles in the frame. McAfee also delivered a run-scoring single, while Trusley knocked in two runs with a base hit. Jacob Flanagan and Andrew Brock both drew walks with the bases loaded and both scored on a Mountaineer error later in the inning.

Four more runs would come home in the top of the fifth. Herrod supplied the big blow with a three-run double before later scoring o Trusley’s sacrifice fly.

Brock had three hits, scored three times and stole two bases. Trusley had two hits and matched Herrod with three RBIs, while Bass also had a double as one of his two hits.

Zach Coots pitched three innings to get the win. He did not allow a hit, a run or a walk and finished with five strikeouts. Matthew Shields pitched the final two innings, allowing three runs - two earned - on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

LFO 3, Coahulla Creek 2

The Warriors managed just three hits at home last Tuesday, but it would be enough as they squeaked past the Colts. LFO manufactured all three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to rally from a 2-0 deficit.

LFO’s rally got started as Giovanni Barroso reach first base on a dropped third strike. McAfee was hit by a pitch and Joseph Heinrich bunted for a single to load the bases. One out later, Colts’ pitcher Grant Ogle would issue back-toback walks to Flanagan and Brock to bring in the tying runs. Heinrich would score moments later on a groundout off the bat of Bass to put LFO in front for the first time in the game.

After five solid innings from starter Riley Mosier, Coots came in for a two-inning save. Coots did not allow a hit and gave up just one walk, striking out two. Mosier recorded the win, giving up two earned runs on five hits with one strikeout.

Bass and Barroso had the only other hits for LFO, both singles.

Haralson County 10, LFO 5

The Warriors gave up a pair of home runs and a five-run fifth inning as they dropped a decision to the Rebels in Tallapoosa on Thursday.

LFO trailed 5-0 when they scored twice in the top of the fifth, but a five-run outburst by the home team in the home half of the inning would

put the game away. LFO would score its final three runs in the top of the seventh on a homer by Bass.

Flanagan had two hits, scored a run and drove in a run in the loss. Barroso also had two hits and Trusley collected a double. Coots pitched 4.1 innings, giving up 10 runs - seven earned - on 11 hits and four walks with six strikeouts. Trusley threw the last 1.2 innings. He allowed one hit and a walk with two strikeouts.

LFO 11, Sonoraville 1

The Warriors kept their playoff hopes alive by scoring 10 unanswered runs in the last four innings to beat the visiting Phoenix on Friday night.

Bass had a big night by going 3-for-4 with five runs batted in. He delivered an RBI-single in the bottom of the first inning, another RBIsingle as part of a threerun third inning and a bases-clearing three-run double in the fourth as the Warriors put up five runs to take control of the game for good.

Barroso had two hits, two RBIs and scored twice. Carson McCammon was 2-for3 with a run and an RBI. Trusley was 2-for4 with a run scored. McAfee had two hits and Flanagan also picked up an RBI.

Mosier worked all six innings to get the win. He walked six batters, but allowed just four hits and only one earned run with one strikeout.