The game was hardly spectacular, a 9-3 win over visiting Class AA Armuchee, but it showcased a key reason the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School baseball team is aiming high this year.
The Warriors used five singles, two hit batters and a walk for six first-inning runs.
“A lot of it comes with maturity, and with that comes a higher baseball IQ,” LFO coach Brad Langford of his senior-laden team. “We’re more mature at the plate, seeing more pitches and putting them in play. We played a good, sound game tonight against a solid team. They’re going to do well in their region, and we didn’t see their best pitching.”
Neither team started aces, but LFO starter Miles Thomas fared much better than Armuchee’s Drake Holley. Thomas got two quick outs in the top of the first, and then the Indians loaded the bases but scored just once. When Holley loaded the bases in the bottom half with two out, a hit batter and consecutive singles by Caleb Gass, Cody Cox, Trey Brock and Cody Commons plated the six runs.
“Our goal this week was to be more aggressive early, and we’ve been working on going deeper in counts,” said second baseman Matt Holden, who was 2-for-3 and scored two runs. “We want to put pressure on teams, and tonight we did.”
Thomas, meanwhile, used the LFO defense to his advantage. He induced a double play to get out of a minor second-inning jam, and after surrending a home run to T.C. Boyd to open the third, he sat down the next six batterss. Though he had only one one-two-three inning, Thomas made the Indians put the ball in play. He struck out just three, walked two and allowed just two earned runs.
“He had a rough start, leaving some pitches high, but he did a good job of limiting free bases and throwing strikes,” Langford said. “We’re looking at Miles to eat up some middle innings for us this year, and he’s been good every time out.”
Floyd had two hits and two RBIs for the Warriors, and Cox scored twice and pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
Lindsey Young is a sports writer at the Chattanooga Times Free Press who started work at the Chattanooga News-Free Press 24 years ago. He covers the Northwest Georgia prep beat and NASCAR. Lindsey’s hometown is Ringgold, Ga., and he graduated from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School. He received an associate’s degree from Dalton Junior College (now Dalton State) and a bachelor’s degree in communications from UTC. He has won several writing awards, including two Tennessee Sports ...
