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Bloodhounds Track Down Red Devils

Mark Pinson, Highlands Today

Avon Park coach Mort Jackson talks things over during Monday night's game against Auburndale in the Early Bird Classic at Head Field.

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By MARK PINSON

Highlands Today

Published: February 18, 2009

AVON PARK - This wasn't the way Avon Park baseball coach Mort Jackson wanted to start the season.

Auburndale pounded out 13 hits and took advantage of five costly errors to beat the Red Devils 11-3 in the Early Bird Classic at Head Field on Monday night.

"We didn't play worth a darn," said Jackson. "We're young and we had a couple of starters out with the flu, but we didn't throw strikes and we didn't catch the ball

"You have to give Auburndale credit, they played solid ball and their pitcher did a good job of throwing strikes and keeping us off-balance."

Avon Park took the lead in the bottom of the first inning when leadoff batter Josh Rogers singled to right field and moved to third base on a wild pickoff throw by Bloodhound pitcher Kyle Ryan.

Rogers raced home when Ryan uncorked a wild pitch to put the Red Devils up 1-0.

Auburndale answered in the top of the third inning when Kyle Chastain lined a two-run triple to right-center field to give the Bloodhounds a 2-1 lead.

The Red Devils bounced back in the bottom of the inning when senior first baseman Kyle Jackson lashed a two-run single to left field for a 3-2 lead.

Avon Park starting pitcher Shevas Hicks, who battled control problems in his four innings of work, couldn't hold the lead as the Bloodhounds bunched three hits and took advantage of a pair of infield errors to retake the lead at 5-3.

"We fell behind a lot their hitters and then we didn't make the plays we needed to make," said the Avon Park coach. "Auburndale is a good hitting club, but we pretty much gave this one away."

Auburndale tacked on a run in the sixth inning on a solo home run by Brandon Patterson, who finished with four RBI, and the Bloodhounds sealed the season-opening win with a five-run outburst in the top of the seventh inning.

Ryan, a hard-throwing left-hander, earned the win with six innings of five-hit ball and had eight strikeouts.

Hicks took the loss for the Red Devils, while Buddy Duke pitched a scoreless inning of relief and Jeff Falis finished the game.

"We have to put this game behind us," said Mort Jackson. "We're a young team and we're going to make mistakes, but we have to keep working hard and keep our heads up."

BASEBALL: Lake Region 6, Sebring 1

Sebring got solid pitching from Dustin Lang and Josh Chavis, but it wasn't enough as Lake Region walked away with a 6-1 win over the Blue Streaks in the Early Bird Classic on Monday night at Head Field.

"The kids battled hard and never gave up," said Sebring assistant coach Buck Rapp. "Lake Region is a very good team with a bunch of seniors.

"They have several division one signees and their pitcher had an outstanding fastball and a great curveball."

Sebring tallied its lone run when Evan Lewis was able to score all the way from first base on an error by the Thunder infield.

"We're going to learn from our mistakes and work to be a better team," said Rapp. "Our goal is to be better at the end of the season than we are now.

"We have a good group of kids to work with and a lot of baseball to play."

BILL JARRETT EARLY BIRD TOURNEY

at Head Field, Avon Park

MONDAY'S SCORES

Auburndale 11, Avon Park 3

Lake Region 6, Sebring 1

THURSDAY Lake Placid vs. Sebring, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY Worst records meet at 5 p.m., Best records meet at 7 p.m.

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com.

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