Indians Outlast Bulldogs to Sweep

Noah Strickland went 4 for 4 with 4 RBI’s to lead Stephens County to a 7-5 win over Hart County Friday night in Hartwell.

The win marked the 4th straight for the Indians and a sweep of the 3 games with the Bulldogs who have now lost 10 straight games.

Hart County got on the board first on an RBI from Crew Franklin in the bottom of the 1st inning.

The Indians would come back with 3 runs in the top of the 2nd with an RBI from Landon Carter and 2 RBI’s from Strickland.

Hart County pulled within one run in the bottom of the inning on Eli Evans’ sacrifice fly.

The Indians extended the lead to 5-2 on a Duke Collins 2 RBI single.

Hart County came back to cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the 6th inning on a Slate Osborne RBI and Pearce Mewborn reached on an error, scoring Cooper Green. The Bulldogs had the tying and go ahead runs at 2nd and 3rd base but Findley Ward got a big strikeout to end the inning.

Strickland stepped up again in the top of the 7th with a huge two-out single plating two to give the Indians a 7-4 lead heading to the bottom of the 7th.

Aided by two Indians errors the Bulldogs would score one but stranded the tying runs on base to end the game.

Konnor Loudermilk picked up the win for the Indians pitching 5 and 1/3 innings allowing 2 earned runs on 9 hits while striking out 3 and walking 1. Ward got the final 5 outs without allowing an earned run on 2 hits and striking out 1 to pick up the save. Riley Sanders pitched all 7 innings for Hart County, now 8-16 and 0-9 in region-8 AA play, allowing 7 runs on 10 hits while striking out and walking two and hitting five batters.

The Indians improved to 16-5 on the season and 6-3 in region play and will travel to face highly ranked Franklin County on Monday in Carnesville. First pitch is scheduled for 5:55 P.M. with airtime at 5:45 P.M. on WNEG.