By Lonnie Turner
Rain and high school  playoffs put a damper on Kiwanis Dixie Youth Baseball last week, but the Physicians Healthcare Yankees managed to get two game in to improve to 7-4 and pull to within two games of the league leading Dillon Internal Medicine Hurricanes (8-1) with four weeks to go. Rain washed out both Minor League games on Thursday and the Latta-Lake View Lower State match up caused both the Minor and Major League teams to Lake View to postpone their games until later in  the season.
The Yankees scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to score a come from behind, 5-4, victory in a make-up game with Mullins on Wednesday  and stopped the Dillon Family Dental Giants, 7-2, in Friday’s only game.
Mullins took a 4-0 lead in the third inning on the strength of two-run doubles by Jalen Williams and Colton Caulder. Koby Fenters singled in the inning and starting pitcher Andrew Bryant ran into control problems issuing back to back walks to JaQuan Richardson and Donny Berry. Bryant settled down to strike out the last two batters in the Mullins line-up, but Williams hit a 1-0 pitch up the middle to break the scoreless tie. Allen Moore was hit by a pitch and Caulder drove in two more runs. Bryant’s inside the park home run with a runner on base in the bottom of the inning cut the lead to 4-2. In the fifth inning, with time running out in the 80-minute time limit, the Yankees rallied to load the bases with one out and Hayden Lane’s walk pulled the Yanks to within a run, 5-4.The Mullins second baseman erred a grounder hit by Bryant to send the tying run across the plate and Kyle Rowell walked in the winning run. Dylan Windham picked up the win for the Yankees in relief and Jalen Williams took the loss.
On Friday, the Yankees wasted little time to go 4-0 up on the Giants in the first inning with runs batted in by Emory Ellis with a single, a double by Dylan Windham and a triple to the right field corner.
On un scored on a ground out by Eli Henderson. Hayden Lane drove in a pair of runs in the top of the second and added another in the fifth on back to back hits by Henderson and Jeremy Byrd and a fielder’s choice by Kyle Rowell. Hayden Perritt was instrumental for scoring both runs for the Giants. He singled to start the second inning and scored on a hit by Leo Garcia and in the third, he doubled and scored on a ground out by Perritt. Dylan Windham picked up his second win of the week going four innings allowing only 4 hits while striking out nine!