JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Despite a late rally from Blue, the Orange team took a 1-0 series lead in the annual Fall World Series Tuesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex scoring five runs in the first three innings and fending off a late charge to win 11-5.
Orange took advantage of three consecutive hits in the top of the first with Carson Kemp (Adairsville, Ga.) entering with 1-2 for an injured teammate to shovel a ball inside of the first-base bag and open the scoring. Ryan Potts (Dandridge, Tenn.) made a diving catch in left field but it allowed Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) to touch home and give Sofield's crew a 2-0 edge.
Two errors gave the Orange side two more runs in the second. With a runner at second base and two outs, a throwing error on a routine grounder brought home the third run of the day. Gunnar Ricketts (Hixson, Tenn.) followed with a single to left field that found the fence after a misplay to score a runner from first and stretch the bulge to 4-0.
Adding on in the third, Emery Peterson (Etowah, Tenn.) drew a walk and moved around the bags on a passed ball, a failed pickoff attempt and a sacrifice fly to lead to expand the lead to five.
In the bottom of the third, the Blue team scratched the surface with two outs. Jordan Griffin (Ellerslie, Ga.) was hit by a pitch, stole second and ran to third after the throw down squirted into center field. Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) drove a ball to the fence in right-center field to trim the margin to four at 5-1.
Orange blew the game open in the top of the fifth scoring five times in the fifth on six singles and two hit batters. Each of the first six batters reached to open the frame including two bunts with Peterson flaring a ball down the left-field line to drive in two. A hit batter and two base hits capped the stanza and made it an 11-1 contest.
The Blue club began to mount a comeback getting one run across on a sacrifice fly in the fifth before batting around in the seventh. Potts launched a lead-off home run to open the frame as the team scored twice more to trim the margin to 11-5 before Jacob Hoffman (Seymour, Tenn.) made a diving catch in right field on a sinking liner to preserve the win.
Ricketts went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and Kemp was the other player with a multi-hit day driving in a run and scoring once going 2-for-4. Mason Mooney (San Jose, Calif.) started the game and fired five strong innings giving up two earned runs on seven hits, two hit batters and a walk with two strikeouts.
Potts paced the Blue team finishing a single shy of the cycle going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and the solo dinger. Griffin reached base three times and Boze produced a pair of knocks. Cade Burkey (Knoxville, Tenn.) reached base three times with a single and two walks.
The combination of Will Hurley (Afton, Tenn.) and Robert McDaniel (Columbus, Ga.) combined to retire the final eight Orange batters of the contest.
Game two of the series is slated to start on Wednesday at 3:15 p.m. from the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex with the audio-only stream available on cneagles.com/live.
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