Vidalia Indians Baseball Battles Larger Schools
The Vidalia Indians continued their preregion season against another strong higher classification opponent in the 4A West Laurens Raiders on Tuesday night February 28 at Greg James Field. The Indians took the win by a score of 9-8. The Indians finally pieced together some clutch hitting to pave the way for the win. They then faced off with 6A Wayne County on Thursday in Vidalia, The Yellow Jackets of Wayne came out on top in this contest. vs. W. Laurens
Walker Moncus started on the mound for the Indians and picked up his third win of the season with six strong innings and posting 7 strikeouts. Tucker McDonald came on in the top of the 7th inning to pick up the save. Moncus also led the offense with a three run homer and a two run homer for five RBI's on the night. Cason Banks and Carson Ricks each posted two base hits on the night as well.
The Indian offense went to work immediately in the 1st inning. After getting the Raiders 1-2-3 in the top half Kaleb Bennett opened the bottom half with a line drive single to left and Banks followed with a bunt single to put two men on and no outs. Moncus followed with a three run homer to dead center field to stake the Indians to a 3-0 lead after one inning.
In the 2nd inning the Raiders picked up a couple of hits with one out but Moncus struck out the next two batters to end the inning. In the bottom half Ricks got the Indians going again as he led off with a single and moved to third on a single to right by Morgan Moye, who was thrown out trying to take second on the throw to third. Conner Whited followed with a deep sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Ricks and stretch the Indian lead to 4-0 after two complete.
The Indians again got the Raiders out in the top of the 3rd inning and went right back to work on offense in the bottom half. Banks led off the inning by getting hit with a pitch and stole 2nd on the next pitch. Moncus drew a walk to put men on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Banks stole third and Moncus moved to second as the ball got away from the catcher. Veer Patel drove Banks home with a ground ball to second to make the score 5-0 Indians after three innings.
In the top of the 4th inning the Raiders got a one out double and that runner moved to third on a ground ball out to second. Moncus struck out the next batter on a breaking ball in the dirt but it got away from the catcher allowing the run to score. A strikeout ended the inning for the Raiders and when the Indians were finally shut down in the bottom half the score remained at 5-1.
In the top half of the 5th inning the Raiders lead off batter reached on a catcher interference call and the next batter was hit by a pitch putting runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. The Indians then turned a double play leaving the Raiders with two outs and a runner on second base. A two out single scored the run. The Raiders got another single and then a double to score another run cutting the Indians lead to 5-3 and runners on 2nd and 3rd base. A two base error on a fly ball to left field allowed both runners to score and tie the game at 5-5. The Indians got a couple of men on with two outs but couldn't score leaving the game tied after five complete innings.
The Raiders went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 6th inning. The Indians got a lead off single from Ricks who was sacrificed to second by Moye. Whited grounded to the pitcher who caught Ricks trying to go to third for the second out of the inning. Whited stole second on the first pitch to Bennett who then drew a walk. Banks got a clutch two out single driving in Whited and when the right fielder mishandled the ball a hustling Bennett also scored giving the Indians a 7-5 lead. Moncus followed with his second home run of the game to make it a 9-5 game going to the 7th inning.
Whited came on in relief to start the 7th inning giving up a single and walk before giving way to Mc-Donald. He walked the first batter he faced then got a big strikeout with the bases loaded. One run scored on a ground ball out and then a double plated two more runs. Mc-Donald got the final out on a weak ground ball to second and preserve the 9-8 victory for the Indians. vs. Wayne
The 6A Wayne County Yellowjackets came to Vidalia Thursday night March 2 and beat the Vidalia Indians by a score of 7-3. The loss gives the Indians a 5-5 record on the year.
Dawson Stewart started on the mound for the Indians and took the loss. He pitched 2 and 1/3 innings giving up six runs on six hits, one walk and getting one strikeout. Carson Ricks came on to pitch 2 and 2/3 innings giving up one run on three hits, one walk and getting three strikeouts. Cason Banks and Veer Patel each pitched one inning allowing no runs. Banks, Ricks and Stewart each had two hits to lead the offense with Banks picking up a double, scoring a run and getting one RBI. Walker Moncus had a double and two RBI's.
Neither team was able to push across any runs in the first two innings. That changed in the top half of the 3rd inning when the Yellowjackets put together seven base hits and a walk to plate 7 runs. After getting the Indians out in the bottom half with no runs the Yellowjackets led 7-0 after three complete.
Neither team scored again until the bottom of the 7th inning when the Indians got a little rally going with two outs. Ty Carter reached on an error after two were out to start the inning. Dawson Lowe followed with a single to left field and Banks followed with an RBI single to put the Indians on the board making it 7-1. Moncus followed with a double over the left fielders head driving in both runners to make it a little more interesting at 7-3. The Yellowjackets changed pitchers who then got a ground ball to the first baseman ending the game for the win.
This week VHS wraps up the nonregion schedule. They played Wayne County again on Monday of this week after presstime. They will be back in action on Wednesday against Swainsboro on the road at 5:30 p.m., will host Statesboro on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. and then travel to Statesboro on Friday at 6:00 p.m.
