By Lonnie Turner

With only one week remaining in the Kiwanis Program, Dixie Youth continues to heat up in Dillon.

The Dillon Family Dental Giants lead the regular season with a 10-4 record, just a single game ahead of the Feed & Farm Rangers (9-5) and the Dillon Meat Center Reds (9-5). But more importantly, the Giants and Rangers were set to square off on Monday night in a very important game. The Giants have won two out of the first three meetings. On the other hand, the Rangers have come out on top two out of the three times they have played the Reds. Only a single game separates the top four teams in the league going into Monday’s games.

Here is the summary of the last four games in the league:

Thursday, June 5
Giants 10, Yankees 2

Nick Evans and Chandler Matthews combined to pitch a 3-hitter to lead the Giants to a 10-2 win over the Yankees in Thursday’s first game.

The Giants pounded out nine hits with three different players collecting two hits each. Landarian Johnson collected his first hits of the season, blasting a double in his first at bat and later singled in a pinch-hit roll. Caleb Boykin and Dawson Perritt added a pair of singles each for the winners. The Giants scored three runs in the first inning, added three more in the second and ended the scoring in the fourth scoring four more.

The Yankees avoided a shutout with Amari Huggins and Azeon Brown coming through with hits in the top of the fourth inning. Brown drove in both runs with a single to right field. Noah Carter doubled home two runs and Matthews joined Evans with one hit each.

Dillon Internal Medicine Hurricanes 2, Feed & Farm Rangers 1

The Hurricanes and Rangers played a full six innings in Thursday’s late game with the ‘Canes eking out a close 2-1 victory. Jared Darmon was the winning pitcher, allowing only three base runners after the first inning.

Tristian Brigman led off the bottom of the first with a triple and stole home to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead and it stayed that way until Darmon led off the top of the fourth inning with a towering home run over the flagpole in center field to tie the game.

Brigman, the starting pitcher for the Rangers, ran into a little control problem in the top of the sixth. He walked Cooper Lane with one out, intentionally issued a free pass to Darmon, and two players later hit Brandon Bethea with a pitch to load the bases. Keith Rippy worked Brigman for a walk to get the winning RBI.

Darmon struck out 14 and Brigman whiffed 15. Both pitchers allowed three hits each.

Hurricanes 6, Yankees 1

Cooper Lane blasted a grand slam to lead the Hurricanes to a 6-1 win over the Yankees in Friday’s first game.

Trailing 1-0 going into the third inning, Josh Brown singled to drive home Caleb Hunt with the tying run. Hunt led off the inning with a hit, followed by a pair of walks to Braeden Webster and Ameer Moultrie. With the bases full, Lane’s hit shot down the left field line and bounced off the foul pole beyond the outfield fence for a home run. It was his second of the year and his first grand slam shot. The Canes added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth inning without the benefit of a base hit.

Trent McNeill went five innings on the mound to get the victory. He gave up only one hit and struck out three after relieving Keith Rippy in the first inning. Azeon Brown’s double in the top of the first off Rippy drove in BoBo McKinnon with the only run for the Yankees. Ian Rowell singled off McNeill in the second for the only other hit for the Yankees. Caleb Hunt and Charlie Collins also had hits for the winners.

Giants 7, Reds 6

In another nail biter, the Giants scored seven runs over the last two innings and held off a sixth inning charge by the Reds to squeak out a 7-6 win.

Trailing 7-1 going into their last at bat, the Reds were able to get the first four batters on base before an out was made. Nathan Hyler walked and scored on Malachi Bember’s single. Collin Hamilton reached base on an error and scored Bember to cut the lead to 7-3.

Following a walk to Jared Ivey and the first out of the inning, Chase Dudley hit a liner to the right field fence scoring Hamilton and Ivey. Dudney went to third on a wild pitch and scored when End Zone Bethea grounded out to second base to make the score 7-6. Knox Jackson was hit by a pitch, but was left stranded when Gage Hunt went down for the final out.

Noah Carter picked up his sixth pitching win out of eight starts, allowing five hits and striking out eight and was the leading hitter in the game with two singles and three runs batted in. Nick Evans doubled and drove in a pair of runs and J.J. Grooms joined Dawson Perritt with one hit each for the Giants.

Dudney led the Reds with two doubles in three trips to the plate and Collin Hamilton hit a two-bagger in the second. Also getting base hits were Barnes Causey and Jared Ivey.

Photos by Johnnie Daniels/THE DILLON HERALD. Click the images below to view at full size.