Up and down week for Dragons
Clinton’s Isaiah Murphy charges home from third as Jackson Duncan attempts to drop a squeeze bunt in the first inning against Fulton on Wednesday.
The game was eerily similar to their first meeting earlier this season at Jaycee Park in the Clinton Invitational. The major difference being the Panthers won that contest in eight innings after rallying in the seventh to tie the game.
Lenoir City took a 2-0 lead in the first but the Dragons scored a run in the third and added three in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead.
Each team scored a run in the sixth but the Panthers scored two in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings.
Luke Perez tripled in two of Clinton’s three runs in the eighth as Luke Johnson came on in relief and picked up the save. He allowed one hit and struck out one.
Shea Harber got the win in relief. He pitched one inning and allowed no hits and no runs.
Perez was 3-3 with a triple and two RBI.
Harber was 1-2 with a double and two RBI. Blake Sherwood was 1-4 with an RBI and Tyler Davis had two RBI. Isaiah Murphy went 2-4.
“We’re two very similar teams the only difference between this game and the last one is that we found a way to overcome adversity. We started to grow up a little bit. We’re continuing to learn how to compete to win ballgames,” said Matt Byrd, head coach of the Dragons.
On Wednesday, the Dragons took advantage of six Fulton errors to beat the visiting Falcons 10-5.
The Dragons picked up four runs in the first and one in the second. After Fulton scored a run in the top of the third, the Dragons answered with five in the bottom of the fourth. The Falcons tacked on four runs — three in the fifth and one in the sixth — but it was too little, too late.
“We were aggressive. We tried to make them make mistakes and that’s pretty much what we did,” Byrd said.
Johnson got the start and the win as he pitched four and a third innings and surrendered just one earned run on five hits with six strikeouts.
Murphy was 3-4 with a double and an RBI.
Alex Burton was 2-4 while Perez, Davis, and Harber each had a hit.
On Thursday, the Mavericks fell at Knox Central by a score of 9-2.
The Bobcats plated three runs in the second, fourth, and sixth en route to the win.
Starter Trey Herrell pitched with seven errors behind him. He suffered the loss as he pitched four innings and allowed no earned runs on four hits with six strikeouts.
“Herrell pitched a really good game we just weren’t very good defensively. I think we’re the better team by far. If we catch the ball we win the ballgame but our team was set up to lose that night no matter what and that’s all I’m going to touch base on with that,” Byrd said.
The Dragons actually outhit Central 6-5 as Perez went 2-4 with a double and Sherwood went 2-4.
Murphy and Davis also each had a hit for the Dragons.
On Friday, Clinton dropped a road game at Fulton by a score of 12-2.
The Dragons took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third but it was short-lived as the Falcons rallied for three in the bottom of the inning. They added four in the fourth and five in the fifth to end the game in five innings.
Starter Jackson Duncan too the loss as he went three innings and allowed three earned runs on six hits while fanning four.
At the plate, Davis was 2-3 with a double, triple, and an RBI.
Perez was 1-4 with a double and RBI while Harber and Zack Webber each had a hit.
“It was two days in arrow of bad defense and lack of energy. We beat Fulton pretty good earlier in the week and I think our guys thought they were going to come out and take it to them. That wasn’t the case,” Byrd said.
The Dragons visit Coalfield Thursday at 5 p.m. They visit Halls on Monday at 5:30 p.m.