Tigers fall on opening day
Reese Ashwander looks to home plate for the pitch. | Randy Garrison
The Hartselle baseball team lost a doubleheader 16-5 to Oxford and 10-1 to Thompson on opening day of the 2011 season.
The Tigers only collected nine hits during both games while the opponents’ bats were hot.
Oxford used five hits, two of which were home runs, to score four runs in the first inning. The Yellow Jackets added eight more runs over the next three innings to take a 12-0 lead.
Hartselle rallied in the bottom of the fourth inning with three runs on two hits. Dax Gillespie and Kaleb Jones were both hit by pitches. They both scored on back-to-back singles by Deacon Aldridge and Zach Letson. Aldridge then scored on a wild pitch.
Oxford scored four more in the fifth inning, but Hartselle could only manage two more runs. After Drew Cowan and Reese Ashwander both drew walks, Gillespie’s sacrifice fly allowed Cowan to score. Then Todd Gibson singled to drive in Ashwander.
The game ended due to the mercy rule in the fifth inning.
Letson, Daniel Cheatham, Gibson, Aldridge and Jones were the only Tigers to get hits.
Hartselle used five different pitchers in the game, but Ethan Howell took the loss after pitching the first inning. The only Tiger not to give up an earned run was Paul Johnson because the defense committed two errors, including a first baseman error that kept the fourth inning going.
In the second game, Hartselle only mustered one run on four hits. Gillespie scored in the fifth inning on a Dalton Jenkins fielder’s choice. That run was only enough to keep the game going as Thompson cruised to the 10-1 win.
Colby Nelson took the loss as he gave up three runs in the first inning on four hits. Sam Harris pitched the best inning for Hartselle as he worked the sixth inning on just four pitches.
However, the Tigers did strike out 14 batters in the loss. Nelson, Jackson Smith, Kameron Wallace and Aaron Wooley all had three strikeouts each while Todd Gibson had two strikeouts.
Hartselle will play three games on Saturday. The first is at 9:30 a.m. against Oak Mountain at Alexandria. The Tigers then face Clay-Chalkville at Jacksonville State at 1 p.m. The nightcap will be against Russell County at Oxford.
