Rebs cage Cougars, 14-8

Lowndes Academy lived up to the hype, and took advantage of 13 errors to knock off No. 2 seeded, Southern Academy, earning a slot in the AISA state championship game Friday night.

The Rebs used a six-run first to jump out to an early lead. The runs were mainly due to Cougar errors, however Drew Harrell, Caylan Conway, Robin Hagood and Adam Sawicki recorded hits that led to the Rebel scoring outburst.

The Cougars responded with a six-run third to tie the game at 6-6.

LA rallied in the bottom of the third and fourth innings to reclaim the lead 13-6. The Rebel offense once again took advantage of the Cougars mistakes to notch a three-run third and a four-run fourth, pushing them ahead 13-6.

Conway put the lock on the Cougars’ cage when he crossed the plate to signal the Rebs 14th run of the night. That eight-run deficit proved to be too much for the visitors from Greensboro. Whit Lane earned the win on the mound for the Rebels. With the victory Lowndes advanced to the state title game of the AISA’s Class A. The game will be played tonight at 6:30 p.m., at Selma’s Bloch Park.

Rebs outlast Cougars, 3-2, to advance

Crenshaw Christian and Lowndes Academy brought their rivalry into their first round meeting Thursday morning at Selma’s Bloch Park. When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, the Rebels stood victorious, nursing a 3-2 win.

After stalemating each other through the first two full innings of play, the Rebels broke the gridlock with a three-run third.

Jon Kreder got things started for the Rebs, drawing a walk on four straight pitches and quickly took second base. Eric St. Cin bunted to move Kreder closer to the dish. The Cougars went to field the sac bunt, but overthrew the first baseman allowing Kreder to score the first run of the game, and allowing St. Cin to reach third uncontested. Bradley Adams roped an RBI double, burning the left fielder and scoring St. Cin from third, to push the Rebs up 2-0. Rebs Senior Whit Lane moved Adams closer to home with a sacrifice fly deep into the outfield. The hit, however was not deep enough to allow Adams to score from third. He did, however score on a wild pitch from CCA pitcher, Bryan Brasington, moving the Rebels further ahead 3-0.

While the Rebel offense had finally gotten on track, their defense was getting ready to jump the rails. The Cougars recorded their first hit of the game on a blooper single from Andrew Powell. The ball fell underneath a diving Lane at third. Sloan Carter continued the momentum swing by singling up the middle, putting runners on first and second with no outs. Brock Free juiced the bases after taking four straight balls.

With bases loaded, Justin Jordan worked himself into a full count, before watching a close pitch be called ball four. His walk brought in Powell, giving the Cougars their first run of the game and putting them closer to the lead, 3-1.

With one out coming from a strikeout, Andrew Armor grounded to the short stop. Instead of going to first, the fielder elected to throw to second and cut the runner, while doing this Carter scored from third to cut the lead to a one run margin, 3-2. The Rebs were finally able to stop the bleeding when Free was caught stealing.

Free’s base running blunder proved to swing the momentum back in favor of the Rebs.