BASEBALL: Dublin outlasts Swainsboro to sweep doubleheader, take series

Nearly seven hours of baseball turned Friday’s doubleheader for Dublin and Swainsboro into a very long night at Bush Perry Field. 

The Irish, in a couple of lengthy games, found a way to outwit, outplay and outlast the Tigers to take not just one, but both in the set. 

After falling to Swainsboro 10-0 in an opener Tuesday, Dublin came from a long way behind to prevail 16-15 in the first of Friday’s pair. The Irish rode the momentum to a 6-3 victory in the second that clinched them the series, and also a sizable foothold in the top portion of the region 2-High A standings. 

Though it’s only played one series out of four on the league slate (compared to the Tigers, who are 7-2 through three, with only first-place Bleckley still to go later this month), Dublin now holds claim on second place in the standings with its region record of 2-1, and a head-to-head tiebreaker with Swainsboro, should the two need to be untangled in the season’s final count. 

Dublin (7-12 overall) will resume region play with Jefferson County in a three-gamer this week, starting on the home side Tuesday and finishing up in Louisville with a doubleheader Friday afternoon. 

The Irish rode out some wild twists and turns, plus three changes of lead, to win the high-scoring opener, before staying the course of a steadier nightcap that put them in some more tight spots, but never behind in the count after going on top in the bottom half of the first inning. 

Though fatigue and some increasingly chilly elements threatened to get to both sides, frustration at the many adverse factors seemed to more negatively affect Swainsboro as they slowly built up by night’s end. 

The Tigers, thanks to 12 runs between innings 2 and 3 of the early game, were in command by a score of 13-6 after just three. But they answered only two of Dublin’s 10 runs from that point on. 

Four in the fourth and three in the fifth helped Dublin tie the game at 13, before Swainsboro re-took the lead in the top of the next-to-last inning on an RBI double by D.J. Stanford, followed by an Irish passed ball, both with two outs. 

But a three-run counter in the lower half of the frame put Dublin back in front for the first time in possibly more than two hours. 

Consecutive hit-by-pitches, then an error, helped cut the Swainsboro lead back to one, leading up to the RBI triple of Josh Guyton that drove in the tying, and go-ahead runs against Jeffrey Webb. 

The seventh was quick work for Dublin’s Eli Hartwell, who set down the side with flyouts to left, right and center to nail down the win. 

The comeback began in the Irish fourth, when Chapman issued three walks in a row to force a Swainsboro pitching change that brought on Stanford. Dublin capitalized on the bases-loaded situation, striking initially for two runs on the base hit of Hartwell, then doubling the total when two made it in on a hard-hit ball by Tal Duke that didn’t leave the infield, but was run out by the freshman to keep the inning going with two outs. 

Two hits and an error helped the Irish pay down the remaining three runs in the balance to tie it at 13 in the fifth. 

Dublin was initially ahead 2-1 after a trade of first-inning runs before the visitors threatened to run away with it in back-to-back long innings. 

Swainsboro nearly batted around twice in the second, riding four hits (the first a homecoming solo homer for Gabe Conley), four walks and three hit batters to put up seven, for an 8-2 lead. 

Dublin responded with four runs – its lone hit a triple by Deago Jackson – to get back within two in the bottom half against the Tigers’ Brandon Chapman. But Swainsboro called the bet, and raised the Irish by one, on four hits and three free passes in the top of the third. 

The teams each finished with 10 hits total in the final count, the three each of Hartwell (who had four RBIs) and Jackson (who drove in two) leading the charge. Guyton added four RBIs on his two hits. 

Swainsboro’s staff of four pitchers walked 11, hit four and struck out six. 

Dublin, which committed six errors, used five pitchers, beginning with Morgan Davis. Relievers Bryceton Evans, Wesley Maddox and Tyrese Robinson followed before Hartwell tossed the final one and one third. 

Robinson had the bulk of work in north of three innings, with a total of five hits and four runs (three earned) five walks and one strikeout. 

Davis, Evans and Maddox combined to allow five hits, eight runs (only four earned), walking four and striking out three. Hartwell gave up no runs or hits. 

Chapman led the Tigers with three base knocks, but lasted only an inning and change in his relief appearance on the hill, striking out two and walking five. 

Starter Peyton Mason, Jeffrey Webb and Stanford also worked on the mound for the Tigers. The collection walked 11 and struck out only six. 

Though not entirely mistake-free in the concluding game, Dublin limited the impact of its errors and walks to prevent a crooked number from going on the board in any inning. 

But by and large, its heads-up D, along with some shutdown pitching from Landyn Horne and Jeff Davis, kept Swainsboro off balance. And the Tigers, who were again held to a total of six hits identical to the Irish and kept scoreless from innings 2-4, would slowly get frustrated as their missed opportunities, and missed plays in the field, began to add up. 

Though the Irish got a key first out on Guyton’s throw to catch Brice Marchman stealing after a leadoff walk in the opening inning, Swainsboro would scratch out two base hits to score one on an RBI by Mason before Horne struck out Conley to leave the score at 1-0 Tigers. 

Dublin, which was led by the one hit each of Morgan Davis, Robinson, Jackson, Guyton, Bennett Lake and Tal Duke, scored two without one to go up for the first time in the bottom of one. 

The Irish tied the game on Lenox Lively’s wild pitch that brought home Robinson. The Tigers gambled after Bennett Lake reached on a hit-by-pitch, and stole second, firing a throw out to second that failed to get him, as Guyton aggressively chugged for the plate and scored a second run. 

Dublin – whose continued aggressiveness (Hartwell and Guyton combining for five stolen bases) would later pay off – failed to add to the lead after a step on home plate led to an inning-ending out with men on in the second, and nothing came of an early hit by Guyton. 

But the Irish, after Horne worked his way out of runners-on situations in the second and third, finally would get some insurance – and a hefty policy – in the fourth when three scored on two walks and a bevy of mishandled liners and ground balls on the infield. 

Lively, midway through the sequence, was pulled for reliever Kason Palmer. 

Dublin also closed the book on its starter, Horne, with a bullpen call for Jeff Davis in the bottom half of the inning. And after finding his feel for the strike zone, the sophomore – dropping his deep curve on the corners – was hard to touch. 

The teams traded a run each in the fifth: Swainsboro’s following back-to-back hits by Mason and Conley. In the bottom half, Hartwell reached, advanced to third and scored on a comebacker to answer, and make the Dublin lead 6-2. 

With two Tigers on in the top of the sixth, Dublin got a controversial third out on a force play at second that quelled another rally, to which a response got a Swainsboro fan tossed from the game. 

The Irish momentum persisted into the seventh, when Davis was able to work around an error and walk that got two Tigers on base with nobody out. 

Daley was put out on a fielders choice, and Dublin happily traded Webb’s sacrifice fly for a second out. 

Edenfield was caught looking on strikes by another Davis curveball for the final out. 

Horne worked around four hits and four walks in his four innings, striking out two. Jeff Davis gave up no earned runs, walking two and striking out three, in his relief appearance. 

Swainsboro’s Lively retired after also allowing four hits, walking five and striking out eight. Edenfield’s two innings included no walks and one strikeout. 

Mason’s two hits led the Tigers.