COVINGTON, Ga. — Saturday’s matchups between Alcovy, Eastside and Newton’s baseball teams featured a little bit of everything. 

Ultimately, though, Alcovy won the day by defeating Newton and Eastside to claim county bragging rights. Meanwhile, Newton downed Eastside in the second game and, therefore, the Eagles went winless on the day. 

Tigers reign supreme for Newton Cup

The Alcovy Tigers picked up two crucial wins on Saturday to help get them off to a hot start to the 2023 season. 

Alcovy run-ruled Newton in game one 19-4 and, to close out the Newton Cup festivities, the Tigers had a walk-off 7-6 victory over Eastside. 

Head coach Kareem Hayes couldn’t pinpoint just one area or player as the difference maker. 

“We came out and hit the ball extremely well,” Hayes said. “We had excellent pitching performances. Everyone contributed across the board.” 

Against Eastside, the Tigers were led by Connor Merritt who went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs. Hunter Parker also batted .500 in the final game along with two RBIs — one of which Parker batted in to score the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning. 

Cooper Duncan and Merritt each contributed for the team on the mound. Duncan pitched 4.2 innings, surrendered four hits, five runs (none of them were earned runs), three walks and two strikeouts. Merritt came on in relief and threw 3.1 innings, two hits, one run and one strikeout. 

In the first game, Alcovy went a combined 13-for-24 at the plate with eight of its players registering at least one hit against the Rams. Duncan had the most productive performance at the plate in that game going 3-for-4 and recording five RBIs. 

Reece Payne took care of all the pitching going four innings allowing four earned runs, six walks and striking out seven opposing batters. 

With Saturday’s wins, the Tigers improved to 4-1 on the young season. Alcovy will face Southwest DeKalb on Feb. 21 at home for another non-region matchup. 

So far this year, though, Hayes is liking what he’s seeing from his team. 

“My guys are coming out each and every day with a competitive spirit,” Hayes said. “They have a lot of energy and focus every day. So that’s what I’m seeing every time we take the field.” 

Rams split rivalry matchups

Newton endured a rough start to the day losing in the first game to Alcovy 19-4, but the Rams rebounded to beat Eastside 7-4. 

When asked what was the difference between the two games, head coach Derwin McNealy pointed to his team’s knowledge of the game. 

“I love the fact that I’m still seeing growth in the boys,” McNealy said. “The more we get on the field, we’ll play better. When we came out, we had some things not go our way, but I love how we bounced back in the second game. So, I’ll take today from the boys.” 

Things particularly swung in Alcovy’s favor in the first game after the Tigers put together a 10-run third inning. That was preceded by a seven-run second inning and the game was called when the Tigers scored two more runs in the fourth. 

However, in the win over Eastside, the Rams had better results. 

Cross Redden went 3-for-3 at the plate and batted in three runs. Anthony Bynum recorded an additional RBI, too. 

Caden Brown and Jordan Bolley both pitched for the Rams, too. Brown went five innings allowing two earned runs but had three strikeouts followed by Nolley’s two innings of work surrendering two earned runs and five hits. 

By splitting the games, Newton’s record goes to 2-2 overall. The Rams will play Midtown at home on Feb. 20. 

The game plan for the Rams after Saturday is going to be simple, according to McNealy.

“We’re just going to look at the good and the bad,” McNealy said. “We’re going to try to emphasize what we’re doing well and work on what we’re not doing well moving forward.” 

Eagles lose both to county rivals

Eastside endured back-to-back tough games on Saturday losing to Newton 7-4 and Alcovy 7-6. 

The most excruciating way Eastside lost was in the Newton Cup finale. 

The Eagles saw their lead become non-existent when Alcovy connected on a walk-off hit. Then, against Newton, Eastside out hit the Rams 11-5, but the Eagles’ five errors were too much to overcome. 

Nevertheless, Eastside had some solid performances. 

In the first game, J. Allen went 2-for-3 with two RBIs at the plate. W. Cutshall brought another run across the plate as well. 

Eastside’s offensive production was spread across the roster. I. Biggers, Cutshall, Allen, and D. Petree each contributed an RBI.

B. Marbut recorded an admirable pitching outing going six innings, allowing three earned runs along with eight strikeouts. 

Suffering the two losses drops Eastside to 1-3 overall with Hampton coming to town on Monday, Feb. 20.