Patriots Bomb JacketsBY CHARLIE BERGMANN: SPECIAL TO THE PILOTThe Pinecrest coaches and players don't look at a game against Lee County as just any other non-conference baseball game.
Josh Haley got the Patriots off to a quick start on Tuesday's annual trek to Sanford, knocking the first pitch of the game on a line over the fence in left-center field. The visitors rolled from there, scoring in every inning on the way to an 11-2 victory.
Chais Beloso gained credit for the Patriots' sixth win in a row, pitching four innings of two-hit ball. He and his successor, Jeremy Evans, were supported by a 12-hit attack.
"Coach (Jeff Hewitt) always says that this is a credibility game," first baseman Lawson Thomas said after contributing a pair of doubles to the Patriot cause. "I remember last year we lost a tough game to them. The home run by Josh set the tone and we kept going from there.
"Everybody was swinging
the bat tonight, hitting the ball solid."
A single ripped through the left side of the infield by Beloso, and a long double to right center by Thomas, made it a two-run first inning.
A pair of Jacket errors helped the Patriots make it 4-0 in the second.
In the third, a high hopper that eluded the Jacket third baseman became a gift double for Thomas. He rode home on a poke to the wall in left-center for a double by Trent Fredericks, increasing the margin to 5-0.
Haley walked leading off the fifth, stole second and third, and then scored on a groundout by Beloso. Andrew MacDonald, Haley and Zach Pickard had RBIs in a three-run fifth inning that made it 9-2. The single runs scored by the Jackets in the fourth and fifth frames were both unearned.
Hewitt enjoyed the 12-hit output, but also liked his team's execution that included bunts by Dillon Maples and MacDonald in the middle of rallies.
"I thought we hit the ball as well as we have in a long time," the Patriot coach said. "I kind of challenged the guys that this would be a second round of the playoffs-type of game. They rose to the challenge."
Ten different players hit safely for Pinecrest as it improved to 7-2 overall. Lee County, now 4-2, was limited to six hits.
With a conference game on Wednesday, the Jackets did not start their ace, Zach Furl, who shut the Patriots out twice last season on a one-hitter and a two-hitter.
Covering 40 innings during the team's six-game winning streak, Pinecrest pitchers have allowed only 22 hits and four earned runs, while striking out 58 batters and walking 16.
Leading the Mid-Southeastern Conference with a 5-0 mark, the Patriots are idle until next Tuesday when they travel to Westover.
"We have three big conference games next week," Thomas said. "We've got to keep it going."
R H E
Pinecrest 2 2 1 1 3 1 1 -- 11 12 2
Lee County 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 -- 2 6 4
Beloso, Evans (5) and Fredericks; Kelly, Thornton (3), Upright (6) and Smith. WP - Beloso LP - Kelly. Leading hitters: (P) Thomas 2-4, 2 2B, RBI, Fredericks 2-5, 2B, RBI, Haley 1-4, HR, 2 RBI; (L) Wilson 3-3, RBI.
