Phillips’ record night helps Georgia rout Tennessee
There had been 16 previous Stump on Sports Tennessee-Georgia All-Star Baseball Classics and in none of the previous games had a player ever had a night like Cole Phillips had this past Friday.
The recent Trion graduate set an All-Star Classic record with two home runs and doubled the previous record of four RBIs as he knocked in eight in Georgia’s 19-1 blowout of Tennessee in the 17th edition of the contest at Lookout Valley High School.
Phillips finished the night 3-for-5 and scored three times. He launched a two out, tworun homer on the first pitch he saw from future MTSU pitcher Dylan Perry (Soddy-Daisy) to stake the Peach State to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning.
However, Phillips would do most of his damage in the seventh inning, which saw Team Georgia - already holding a comfortable 7-1 lead - send 15 batters to the plate and light up the scoreboard for 12 more runs.
Phillips ripped a tworun single to help get the inning going and the former Bulldog slugger would stride to the plate later in the frame with bases loaded and two outs. He proceeded to launch a blast over the right-centerfield wall to clear the bases before touching home plate with the final run of the game for Team Georgia.
Philips would go on to take home game Most Valuable Player honors. However, there were plenty of other stars on display for Georgia during the game.
Dylan Minghini (Gordon Lee) was 2-for3 with a three-run double in the top of the fifth. Lance Dockery (Heritage) had two hits, including a double, and scored twice. Nathan Camp (Ringgold) also had a double as one of his two hits. He also drew two walks, reached base four times and scored four runs. Caleb Hopkins (Gordon Lee) chipped in with a solo homer in the fourth inning and added an RBI in the seventh.
Trevor Procter (Model) and Bryce Bird (Heritage) also had runscoring singles in the game, while Cornelius Halfacre, a Tyner graduate who filled a roster spot for Team Georgia, contributed an RBI-double.
But the Georgia Player of the Game was pitcher Caleb Shiflett (Coosa), who entered the game in the top of the second inning and promptly struck out five of the six batters he faced over the next two frames.
Teddy Lepcio (Baylor) earned Tennessee Player of the Game honors as he had a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to account for the lone run of the game for the Volunteer State.
Team Tennessee would load the bases in the bottom of the eighth against Dylan Wooten (Ridgeland), but Wooten would bear down to strike out Perry with the sacks full to end the threat and ultimately the game as the ninth inning was not played.
Austin Thompson (Gordon Lee) recorded the win for Team Georgia as he worked the fifth inning. Alex Butler (Baylor), who started the game on the mound and pitched two innings for Tennessee, took the loss.
Tennessee still holds a 14-3 advantage in the all-time series.