Phoenix end week with 2 tough losses
The Sonoraville High School baseball team began this week with a 6-3 record in Region 6-3A and right in the middle of the GHSA playoff chase.
But that doesn’t mean head coach Deron Walraven is entirely happy about where they stand after the Phoenix, “let a couple of ballgames we should have won get away,” last week,” according to the coach.
They began last week by ending Rockmart’s undefeated Region mark with a 7-3 win over the Yellow Jackets, essentially tying the two teams for first place with each having only one loss.
But just 48 hours later, with a chance to take first place alone in the Region, they lost the rematch Thursday to the Yellow Jackets, 8-4, and on Friday, after leading 4-2 going into the fifth inning, they suffered a 5-4 loss to Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe.
That gave them a two-game losing streak in the league going into this rainy week and Walraven said the two-game losing streak is a skid they’ve got to put the brakes on ASAP .
“We are in a good spot in the Region, but we could be in a better spot,” Walraven said. “We had a couple of games last week where, one was tied late and the game against LFO, we were leading late and then we lost, so we feel like we let a couple of
ballgames get away. And we can’t let that happen. We’ve can’t fight our way back into a game and then give up a big inning and unfortunately, we did that a couple of times in these last two games.”
In the win over Rockmart to start the week, the Jackets scored two runs in the top of the first inning but the Phoenix pushed three across in their initial at-bat to take a 3-2 lead at the end of one.
The visitors tied the game at three with one more in the top of the second, but from there, senior pitcher Trevor Childers shut them down and the Phoenix went on to get the win that lifted them to 6-1 in the Region with Childers going the distance and needing just 89 pitches to record 21 outs.
“Trevor pitched a very good ballgame,” Walraven said. “He was very efficient with his pitches. He had good command. He threw strikes. Got off to a little bit off a rough start, but kept competing and after that second (inning), he was on top of it. He just did a great job out there.”
The game remained tied at three through the bottom of the fifth inning when Sonoraville scored four runs to take their sixth Region win in their first seven games.
Junior Zach Lyles supplied the power in that four-run frame with a three-run homer, which is the team’s first this spring.
“We certainly have kids that are capable of hitting it out of the park, it’s just not something we focus on,” Walraven said. “We just want our kids to put good swings on the ball and if a few happen to leave the park, we’ll take it. But that was our first one this year and it couldn’t have come at a better time.”
But on Thursday in the next game at Rockmart, with the game tied at three heading to the bottom of the fifth, the home team erupted for five runs and would go on to the 8-4 victory to begin what would be a rough 24 hours for the Phoenix.
Dawson Townsend was the starting pitcher for Sonoraville before Walraven went to a few different guys to try and stifle that fifth-inning game-changing rally.
The Phoenix did put a couple of runners on in the seventh with a chance to come back, but couldn’t get the necessary big hit to extend the game.
Then on Friday, Lyles threw well for five innings and the Phoenix scored four runs in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead, but LFO closed the gap to one, 4-3 with a solo tally in the fifth and then scored twice in the
sixth for the one-run win.
“LFO is a good team. They made the playoffs last year, but we just didn’t execute at the end of the game like we could have and they capitalized on some things and got the win,” Walraven said.
Lyles was the starting pitcher for Sonoraville and worked the first five innings. Walraven used a couple of different guys in the sixth inning when LFO pushed across the two runs that lifted the Warriors from a run down to a run up.
Going into this week’s games with just about all the Tuesday’s games postponed, Rockmart was alone in first place in Region 6-3A with an 8-1 record and Ringgold was second at 7-2. The win by LFO kept them in front of Sonoraville in the standings as the
Warriors are 5-2 with a couple of rainouts to make up and then the Phoenix are 6-3.
After that, the other five teams in the league are all below .500 with Coahulla Creek in fifth place at 3-4 and also in a position of having to play makeup games.
The Phoenix were scheduled to play three games this week but like Walraven said, that is, “weather permitting.”
They had their Region rematch with LFO Tuesday night canceled and were to follow that up with a two-game series against Adairsville, which was to start on Thursday (Details of those games were not available at press time).
Walraven said his guys had to come with their foot on the gas.
“Adairsville is young, but Adairsville has some very good players, so we need to be ready to
play,” he said. “I feel like we’re getting everybody’s best shot and so right now, we need to come ready to give everybody our best shot.
“But our Region is tough. Anybody can beat anybody. The team that is sitting at the bottom can beat anybody sitting at the top. And we’re not sneaking up on anybody. I think last year, we surprised a few teams, but this year, everybody knows who we are and what we have, so we’re seeing everybody’s best and we’ve got to respond to that by playing our best.”
The Phoenix are 12-6 overall.
They step out of the Region early this week with a home-and-away two-game series against Pickens County before they are back at it Friday with a 5:55 p.m. road game against Murray County.