Dallas County falls to Greenville in first area contest of season

By George L. Jones

The Selma Times-Journal

PLANTERSVILLE – Dallas County lost in extra innings in its first area game of the season Friday.

Tyler Hollis tied the game at 5 on his second hit of the afternoon, a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

But Greenville (10-9, 1-2) brought eight runs across the plate in the eighth and won 13-7.

Hornets coach Ty Riggins had been worried about his team’s troubles scoring runs recently, and it finally caught up with them,

“We hadn’t been playing real well lately,” Riggins said. “We’ve been playing just good enough to get by, but we didn’t play well enough today. The last couple of ball games we’ve been waiting until the fifth or sixth inning to score runs, and it’s been okay for the rest of the regular season. But we didn’t need to do that today.”

The game was a pitcher’s duel for the first four innings. Both teams combined for two hits and one run until Greenville went ahead 4-0 after a bases-loaded double by Zac Smith in the fifth. Two errors in the fourth allowed Casey Weston to score the first run of the ball game.

Smith led all hitters at the plate, going 3-for-5 with five RBIs.

DCHS (13-3, 0-1) answered in the bottom of the fifth with three runs on RBI singles by Hollis and Nick Stevenson and an RBI double by Dylan Cooper. The Hornets tied the game at 4 in the fourth when Shane Moreland walked, stole his way to third and scored on a Weston balk.

Weston atoned for his mistake by temporarily giving the Tigers the lead back on a solo home run with two outs in the fifth.

Despite Hollis’s homer, things fell apart for DCHS in the eighth. A pair of errors allowed two runs to score, and the Tigers led 7-5.

Stevenson hit his fourth batter of the game to load the bases before he was replaced by Matthew Ross. Lynn Lewis and Weston greeted the new pitcher with back-to-back two-RBI doubles, and Smith followed with a two-run homer to center field to put Greenville ahead by 8.

DCHS showed signs of life in the bottom of the frame when Jacob Paxton led off with a ground rule double and later scored on an error at shortstop.

Ross knocked in a run on a single with the bases full, but the game ended when Cooper grounded into a 6-3 double play.

“The last couple of games, we’ve been showing a lot of heart, and that’s what we’ve been preaching at practice,” said Greenville coach Brad Horn. “They showed a lot of heart and battled at the end of the ball game.”

Weston was the winning pitcher after allowing four runs (one earned) on six hits, walking three batters and striking out four in 3 2-3 innings of relief. He also went 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Greenville starter Parker Winters went 4 1-3 innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits in the no decision.

Stevenson was the losing pitcher after throwing 6 1-3 innings and allowing nine runs (four earned) on six hits, walking three and striking out six.