By Lonnie Turner

The third week of Dixie Youth Baseball action has begun with the McLeod Health Marlins (5-0) occupying first place as the only unbeaten team in the 9-10 year old Minor League and the Majors has the Dillon Family Dental Giants in the lead over the Justice Rangers with a 4-1 record after beating the BB Yankees, 6-3, on Monday. The Rangers are a half-game behind the Giants with a 3-1 record and will play the Cotton’s Grocery Reds in the late game on Thursday.

Minor League
Tuesday, April 24
McLeod Health Marlins 8, True Value Tigers 7

The Marlins had to come from behind to beat the up-start Tigers, 8-7, on Tuesday to remain undefeated in the Minors. Trailing7-4 going into the top of the fifth inning, the Marlins put together hits by Tristian Brigman, Collin Hamilton and Knox Jackson, plus a walk and a Tiger error in the outfield, to push four runs across the plate to take the lead. The Marlins retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning. Starting and winning pitcher Trent Johnson forced two ground outs and recorded the last out with his sixth strikeout of the game. Jackson led both teams at the plate with two hits and four runs batted in. Johnson also added a single and Chandler Matthews singled to lead off the third inning for the winners. In a losing cause Heath Brown and Chase Dudney had run scoring doubles and Ahmari Huggins-Bruce and Masen Furr also hit safely.

Physicians Healthcare Pirates 3, Burger King Braves 0

The first three batters for the Pirates scored to start the bottom of the first inning against the Braves and the Pirates hung on for a 3-0 win in Tuesday’s second game. Noah Carter started the inning by reaching base on a fielding error, Jared Ivey followed with a walk and Jared Darmon drove them both home with a double to the leftfield fence. Darmon crossed the plate when Josh Brown hit an infield single. Barnes Causey had two of the three hits given up by Pirate pitching, including double, and Cooper Lane was one for three for the Braves. Also hitting safely for the Pirates were Ivey with a double and Trent McNeil rapped a single in two trips to the plate. Darmon was credited with the pitching win and Noah Carter picked up the save. Darmon struck out 11 in his four-inning stint on the mound and Carter struck out three over the last two innings.

Thursday, April 26
McLeod Health Marlins 6, Pepsi-Cola Blue Jays 0

Tristian Brigman singled and scored on a two-out single by Josh Fletcher in the bottom of the first inning as the Marlins stopped the Blue Jays 6-0 behind the no-hit pitching of Brigman, who won for the third time in as many starts for the undefeated Marlins (6-0). The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the top of the first with no outs, but Brigman settled down after walking two and hitting a batter to strike out the next three batters and end the early threat. Brigman also tripled and singled in two plate appearances while Knox Jackson drove in a pair of runs in a 5-run third inning rally with a single. Also hitting a single was Jamarius Bethea.

Major League
Internal Medicine Hurricanes 4, “BB” Yankees 3

Dawson Dove didn’t allow a hit and only allowed two Yankee base runners through three innings in Thursday’s opening Major League contest. With the Hurricanes leading 4-0, the Yankees pushed three runs across the plate in the top of the final inning on a single and two bases loaded hit batters, before Rah-Rah Fletcher settled down to strike out the side with the bases still full to save the game for Dove, who recorded his first win of the season. Daniel Chestnut was perfect at the plate with two singles and was hit by a pitch. Jackson Hayes broke out of an early season batting slump with a screaming line drive to the left field fence for a double to put the ‘Canes up, 2-0, in the first inning. Davis Cook’s lead-off single in the same inning sent Rah-Rah Fletcher across the plate with the first run. Fletcher also beat out an infield hit in the fourth as the ‘Canes loaded the bases, but failed to score. Ian Patterson beat out an infield hit in the three-run 4th inning rally and scored the third run in the inning before Fletcher retired the side.

Cotton’s Reds 7, Justice Rangers 6

A two run rally by the Rangers fell one run short of tying the Reds in the bottom of the sixth inning in Thursday’s final game before Noah Henderson retired the last of three batters he faced in relief of Michael Minges, who struck out 13 in picking up his second win of the season. Jon-Mitchell Carter doubled and singled twice in his last three at-bats in the game to lead the Reds and Micah Garcia added two hits in his final three times at the plate. Minges became the first Major League batter to clear the outfield fence for a home run this season, joining Pepsi-Cola Blue Jay Nick Evans, who blasted an out of the park homer last Monday before moving up from the Minors to the Yankees. For the Rangers, who dropped a full game behind the League-leading Dillon Dental Clinic Giants, collected four hit off Minges, including a two-run double off the bat of Ross Carlyle and two more two-base hits by Ereck Eck and T.J. Watson. Kolby Watts singled in the first inning, but was left stranded at third.

Minor League
Friday, April 27
Burger King Braves 8, True Value Tigers 4

The Burger King Braves exploded for six runs in the bottom of the third in a 5-inning game Friday afternoon to take an 8-0 lead over the True Value Tigers. The Tigers scored three in their half of the fourth and one in the fifth before Davis Lockamy retired the side with three strikeouts to give the Braves an 8-4 win. Malachi Bember opened the big inning with a single, Lockamy walked and Barnes Causey slapped a single to right field to score both base runners. Causey scored when Cooper Lane’s grounder to third was erred and after Ty Huggins worked starting pitcher Chase Dudney for a walk, Zach Wilkes ripped a double to center to score Lane and Huggins. Wilkes crossed the plate for the sixth run when Jordan Coward walked to end the inning. Da-Da Blakely hit an inside the park home run in the top of the first inning for the victorious Braves to give starter Causey a 2-0 lead that he held until leaving the mound after three innings. Both Tiger hits were back to back singles by Dawson Perritt and Zach Davis in a 3-run Tiger third. Perritt was credited with two runs batted in with his hit.

Major League
Dillon Family Dental Giants 5, Cotton’s Grocery Reds 2

Ray-Ray McGirt pitched his first complete game in Friday’s 5-2 win over the Reds. Jon-Mitchell Carter’s bunt single in the last inning spoiled the no-hitter for the hard throwing left-hander, who struck out 15 batters while walking six. Noah Henderson scored the first run off McGirt when he walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch and Dallas Fogan walked and scored on a passed ball in the final at-bat for the Reds. Josh Hunt tripled home McGirt and Kaleb Johnson after they had singles in the first inning off starting pitcher Jon-Mitchell Carter. The 2-0 lead held until the fourth when the Giants pushed across three more runs the first three batters reached base without hitting the ball. Tim Cousar and Corbin Wethington walked and Hunter Lane was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Carter got McGirt on strikes for the first out, but Rameer Sowells singled to the right field fence to score Cousar and Lane. Wethington scored the third run of the inning when Johnson grounded out to the first baseman.

Justice Rangers 3, Internal Medicine Hurricanes 2

After the Hurricanes had taken a 2-0 lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on four base hits, the Rangers came back with three without the benefit of a hit to take a 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the inning, ‘D” Brown reached first safely on an infield error, but was thrown out at second when David Chestnut hit a ball to short right field for the second out of the inning. Joseph Desser followed with a pop-up to Eck for the final out. Dawson Dove started on the mound for the Hurricanes and allowed only one hit through three innings, a single by Eck to start the second. Jackson Hayes led both teams at the plate with a double and a single in two trips. Other hits for the Hurricanes were back to back singles by Rameer (“Rah-Rah”) Fletcher and Davis Cook in the 2-run fourth. After getting Daniel Chestnut to fly out to center, Dove and Hayes also had back to back singles.

Monday, April 30
Minor League
McLeod Health Marlins 9, Burger King Braves 3

The Marlins started the fourth week of Minor League action as the only unbeaten team and kept the winning streak alive with a 9-3 win over the Braves in Monday’s first game. The Marlins took a 1-0 lead when Tristian Brigman led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and scored on a fielding error, but the Braves bounced back with back to back hits by Barnes Causey and Cooper Lane to tie the game at 1-1. Causey led off the inning with a single and Lane doubled to the left field fence to drive the tying run home. The lead was short lived as Brigman hit a two-out inside the park home run over the Braves’ right fielder’s head, but back came the Braves with two runs in the top of the fourth to retake the lead, 3-2. Malachi Bember reached base on an error and “Da-Da” Blakely sent him home with a singe and later scored the go-ahead run on an error. Trent Johnson started the bottom of the fourth with a single and Knox Jackson followed with a triple to the game for the third time. A hit batter, three walks, a single and an error followed producing six runs before an out was recorded to put the game out of reach. Brigman and Jamarius Bethea led the Marlins at the plate with two hits apiece, including the homer by Brigman and a triple by Bethea.

Major League
Internal Medicine Hurricanes 7, Dillon Family Dental Giants 5

A 7-5 loss for the Giants to the Reds Monday night sets up Thursday night’s match-up between the Giants and the Rangers. The Rangers (4-2) trail the Giants (5-2) by a half game and will set up a probable pitching duel between the Giant’s Ray-Ray McGirt and Ereck Eck of the Rangers. The Hurricanes scored three runs in the top of the first inning last night on four successive walks and a two-run single by Dawson Dove, who later scored on ground out back to the pitcher. McGirt’s triple and a wild pitch pulled the Giants to within two runs in the bottom of the inning, but two more tallies in the third gave the Hurricanes a 5-2 lead. The Giants picked away at the lead, but fell short with two runs in the bottom of the final inning. Rameer Sowells pulled the league leaders to within two with a double in the final inning, but Rah-Rah Fletcher retired the last batter on strikes with the tying run at second base. In addition to Dove’s double, Daniel Chestnut and Jackson Hayes had RBI singles and “D” Brown also hit safely. Mason Bailey beat out a slow roller in front of the plate to record a single for the Giants in the fourth and went all the way to third when the throw to first from the catcher went all the way to the right field corner. He scored on Sowells’ double.