The Eastside baseball team (11-11, 6-6 Region 8-AAAA) was swept by the Lumpkin County Indians on Tuesday and Wednesday, falling even in region play
while maintaining the league’s fifth place position.
The Indians took the Eagles 8-4 in game one before besting Eastside 8-3 in game two.
The pair of losses
continues Eastside’s recent five-game skid, jeopardizing the team’s chances for postseason play.
Eagles fall at home
Hosting Lumpkin at home, Drew Buckhault took the mound for the Eagles on a cold and blustery Tuesday evening. Buckhault cruised through three scoreless innings without allowing a hit as the Eastside offense gave him a slim 1-0 lead to work with in the first inning. Table-setter Austin Holloway reached on a single, followed later by a RBI-single off the bat of Hank Steele.
The Eagle lead disappeared momentarily in the fourth inning as the Indians plated two runs courtesy of a walk, a hit and an error. But, Eastside bounced right back in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs, retaking the lead thanks to an Indians’ error, a Josh Sims’ single and a 2-RBI double belted by Holloway.
The game then slowly slipped away from the Eagles as the Indians scored two runs in each of the remaining three innings.
The only other threat posed by Eastside came in the sixth inning as Peyton Pallay reached on an error while the opposing pitcher began to wane. Lumpkin County issued a trio of walks, forcing in a run. A flyout and a strikeout ended the threat as the inning came to a close.
Buckhault’s six-inning effort yielded six hits, three walks and four strikeouts.
Travis Smith and Dustin Kerbow combined to close out the final inning.
Road lumps
Traveling into the North Georgia mountains of Dahlonega for the second game of the series, the Eagles hoped for a different result, but it was not in the cards for the Eagles.
An Austin Holloway single led off the game, but Holloway was left stranded.
Back-to-back singles from Connor Hewell and Peyton Pallay were also left stranded in the second and a Hunter Ballard single in the third was also left hung out to dry.
Meanwhile, sophomore pitcher Gray Ritchey and the Eagle defense were not turning in their best performances, as the Indians posted a run in the first inning and three runs in the third frame.
The Eastside offense continued to struggle and did not register a hit in the fourth, fifth or sixth innings.
Lumpkin County’s batters continued their hitting spree and the Indians added a pair of runs in the fourth and another pair in the sixth, taking an 8-0 lead.
The Eagles took advantage of the Indians’ pitching staff, as Lumpkin County began to struggle on the mound in the top of the seventh inning.
Eastside loaded the bases with Hewell reaching on error before the Indians walked Justin Moore and Travis Smith. Hewell scored on a throwing error and Moore followed him home after being awarded a base on a balk. Jake Jones (pinch running for an injured Smith) scored after another Holloway single, cutting the Indians’ lead to 8-3.
Ballard registered another single before the inning came to a close, but the Eagles were unable to finish their comeback, suffering yet another Region 8-AAAA loss.
Ritchey finished the night giving up 11 hits over 5-1/3 innings of work, striking out six while walking two batters. In relief, Hewell gave up a hit and issued a walk in his 2/3 of an inning.
Eastside again travels north today, this time to Toccoa to face Stephens County.
