BASEBALL: Dublin finishes strong in second-straight series, sweeps doubleheader at Jefferson County Friday

For a second-straight region series, Dublin bounced back from an opening loss to win the final two games in its closing doubleheader last week. And this time, both the victories came on the road as the Irish swept a  twin bill at Jefferson County Friday, the opener by a lot and the last by only a smidge. 

The results, in finals of 16-0 and 8-7, are good to keep them in second place at the halfway mark of their league schedule. Dublin (9-13, 4-2 region 2-High A) shares a twice-beaten record with Swainsboro, but owns the tiebreak via its series win a week earlier should it wind up with the same final region record as the Tigers, which have only Bleckley County still to play in two weeks’ time. 

Dublin will host the Royals in two out of three this week, starting at Bush Perry Field Tuesday afternoon, before closing the regular season with East Laurens April 16-19. 

The Irish more than cleansed the bitter taste of the series opener – a 4-3 home loss that only slipped through the fingers – from their palates in Friday’s first game, which was over in four innings after 16 runs (at least three per inning) on a colossal 21 hits, and one Jefferson County error. 

Landyn Horne allowed only two in a shutout effort on the Dublin side, walking and striking out three each. He was also backed by the team’s first error-free performance of the season. 

Every lineup member of the starting nine except one for the Irish had a hit, and both Josh Guyton and Tyrese Robinson finished 4-for-4. Guyton doubled twice, singled twice and drove in three. Robinson had one double and three other base hits. 

It was just as great a day for Deago Jackson and Willie Batts, who were both 3-for-4. Jackson singled twice, doubled once and had one RBI. Batts tripled once and singled twice, pushing home a total of three runs. 

Jeff Davis and C.J. Stubbs both capped three-RBI days with two hits each. Xavier Reese had a pair of hits and batted in two. Morgan Davis also added an RBI single to the hit column. 

The biggest Irish inning was the third, when doubles of Jackson and Guyton were followed in a parade of hits by singles of Reese, Stubbs and Morgan Davis, all for at least one RBI. 

Jefferson County starter Trey Davis took the loss in two innings and a portion of the third. Chevy Farmer took the Warriors the rest of the way in relief. The pair of pitchers combined to strike out only two and walk one. 

Dublin runners also stole nine bases. Guyton and Robinson had two each. 

Jefferson County rebounded to make the rubber match a nailbiter for the Irish, but Dublin was able to stay at least a run ahead of the Warriors for the entire game, including through a two-run rally in the sixth that closed its 8-5 lead, through the fifth, to just one. 

But the Warriors’ little-by-little offense – taking advantage of seven Dublin errors that went in stark contrast to the earlier game – wasn’t quite enough to clear the final hump.

The Irish, after scoring five in the first two, added on a run each in innings 3-5. Jefferson County steadily chipped away, with at least a run apiece through four, and two in the second. 

Zeroes in the fifth and seventh were as key for Dublin as its big start. 

Bennett Lake struck out the side to strand two in scoring position and make the fifth inning the Warriors’ first without scoring. 

Hits by Grayson Maxwell and Caleb Pittman, after his initial strikeout of Evin Usry, had Jefferson County knocking on the door. But Lake struck out both Trey Davis and Landon Schmidt to get out of the inning. 

The Warriors pulled within one on three base hits, and two Irish errors, in the sixth. But they couldn’t break through in another of the same scenarios in the bottom of the seventh. 

Robinson got Schmidt on strikes, and popped up another for a second out on the other side of a Pittman walk. But an error in right field that allowed Farmer to get on as the winning run, then his stolen base to put runners at second and third, intensified the late pressure with the outcome of the series potentially hanging on a single pitch. 

Robinson got Jayden Duncan to hit one in the air to center, where Hartwell secured the catch, and the Dublin victory. 

Jeff Davis’ two-RBI single keyed the two-run burst that started things off for the Irish in the opening inning. The hit to left followed a leadoff single for Robinson, a Guyton grounder that moved him over and a walk and steal of second by Hartwell. 

Dublin struck for three with two outs in the second to add a first in its several layers of insurance. Robinson was the first man to get on with a second hit of the day to left field. Jackson sent one to the same side for a base hit, and Guyton blasted the first pitch he saw in the next at-bat over the right field fence to make it 5-1 Irish. 

Dublin outhit the Warriors 13-8 on the ballgame, getting two each from Jackson, Robinson, Lake and Guyton. 

Stubbs, Jeff Davis (with two RBIs), Tal Duke, Batts and Hartwell had a hit each. 

Two relief pitchers preserved the win for Irish starter Morgan Davis, who pitched four innings, giving up four hits and five runs (all unearned) while walking two and striking out four. 

Lake pitched around three hits to give up only a pair of runs, walking two and striking out four in his inning and one third. Robinson, who took over during the sixth, nailed it down for the save in one and two thirds of relief, allowing no runs on one hit, walking two and striking out one.