Wolves Split With Top-Ranked Warriors

DECATUR – The Co-Lin Baseball team resumed MACCC play on the road against East Central on Wednesday, March 27. The Wolves dropped game one, 8-4, but then rebounded to hand the No. 1 Warriors their second loss of the season winning game two, 3-1.

GAME ONE

The first game of the day featured a pitcher's duel in the first three innings as the two teams combined for four baserunners via three walks and one double. The Wolves broke the scoreless tie with one run in the top of the fourth to take an early lead.

Hagan Coumbe (Utica) led off the inning with a double to get the Wolves going and was just the second hit of the game for either team. Coumbe then advanced to third on a groundout and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Jordan McKenzie (Franklinton, LA) to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead.

The Warriors then tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with a one-out solo home run making the score, 1-1. However, the Wolves quickly regained the lead as they responded with a run in the top of the sixth as Tucker Jones (Brandon) crushed the first pitch of his at-bat over the left field fence for a solo home run with one out. The Wolves held a 2-1 lead after the half of the inning.

The Warriors then took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the seventh taking advantage of three walks in the inning and making the score, 4-2. The Wolves wasted little time in responding as Isaac McClenty (Ridgeland) started off the inning with a leadoff solo home run on the first pitch of the top of the eighth to cut the lead down to 4-3.

The Warriors then responded with a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth making the score, 8-3. However, the Wolves continued to fight to the very end as they started the top of the ninth with McKenzie and Brentley Berry (Magee) drawing back-to-back walk. McKenzie advanced to third as Brayden Bankston (Terry) reached on a fielder's choice while Berry was out on the play. McKenzie then scored on a fielder's choice by Sam Cook (Shubuta) while Bankston was forced out making the score, 8-4. The game was then ended on a strikeout to seal the 8-4 win for the Warriors.

Dee Morgan (Tallulah, LA) got the start for the Wolves and moved to 1-4 overall while pitching 6.2 innings and allowing four runs, all earned, on three hits with five walks and four strikeouts. Jayden Duncan (Foxworth) pitched 1.1 innings of relief allowing four runs, all earned, on two hits with three walks.

The Wolves totaled six hits with Tucker Jones being the only member of the team with two hits while Hagan Coumbe, Jon David Weed (Terry), Brayden Bankston, and Isaac McClenty having one hit each. Jones, McClenty, Jordan McKenzie, and Sam Cook had one RBI each.

GAME TWO

The second game of the day saw a similar start to game one as each team's started worked around allowing one baserunner in each inning from the first through third innings, but no scoring was done by either team. The Warriors broke the scoreless tie with their only run of the game in bottom of the fourth taking a 1-0 lead.

The Warriors lead held throughout the fifth and sixth innings despite the Wolves continuing to put runners on base in both innings. However, the Wolves broke through in the seventh as they scored three runs to take the lead with Braydon Evans (Florence) drawing a leadoff walk to start the inning.

After Braden Freeman (Terry) was brought in as a pinch runner for Evans, Isaac McClenty hit a bunt single and then both advanced to second and third respectively to put two runners on in scoring position with no outs. Brayden Bankston then laid down a bunt and reached safely on a fielder's choice while Freeman scored on the play to tie the game at 1-1. Tucker Jones then drew a walk to load the bases with no outs for the Wolves. The Warriors then got back-to-back strikeouts, but the Wolves turned to their bench and put Sawyer Dunn (Magee) in as a pinch hitter with the bases loaded and two outs on the board. Dunn then reached on an error while both McClenty and Bankston scored on the play giving the Wolves a 3-1 lead.

The Wolves then retired the Warriors in order punctuated by a game-ending strikeout to secure the game two win, 3-1, and split on the day.

Coby Gollot pitched a complete game gem and improved to 3-2 overall with the win allowing just one earned run on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Brayden Bankston, Jordan McKenzie, Brentley Berry, Braydon Evans, and Isaac McClenty got one hit each to account for the five hits in game two. Bankston collected the only RBI of the game for the Wolves.

Co-Lin is now 17-17 overall, 5-5 in conference play, and will return to action on the road against Mississippi Delta on Friday, March 29. First pitch between the Wolves and the Trojans is set for 1 p.m., at the Jimmy Bellipanni Baseball Complex in Moorhead.