Published Thursday, May 22, 2008

Indians bucked by Broncos in sweep

The Newnan Times-Herald

SHARPSBURG -- After sweeping M.L. King and Coffee in the first two rounds of the state Class AAAAA baseball playoffs, the East Coweta Indians ran into a Brookwood buzz saw in the quarterfinals.

Brookwood eliminated East Coweta with a 12-2 six-inning mercy rule win here Thursday after taking the first game of the series Tuesday night, 14-3.

"They're a great team," EC coach Franklin Deloach said of the Broncos after Thursday's game. "I tip my hat to them. They make the plays. They make the pitches. They capitalize on their opportunities. I think they're the best team in the state."

The pollsters agree, but the Broncos made a strong case for their No. 1 ranking on the field as well.

Brookwood outscored EC 26-5 in the two games and outhit the Indians 25-9.

"There aren't any holes in their lineup," Deloach continued. "They can hurt you up and down the lineup."

The loss ended the season for the Indians who finished the year 16-16 after a 1-9 start.

"I'm extremely proud of this team," said Deloach. "We had a ton of holes to fill from last year and we were eating humble pie after those first 10 games. But these kids have a lot of character. I'll take being region champs and making the state quarterfinals every year."

The Indians jumped on top 2-0 on Felton James' two-run homer in the top of the first, his sixth round-tripper of the year, but Brookwood lefthander Matt Adams (now 7-0) slammed the door from that point.

He retired the next 10 Indian batters in a row, gave up only two more hits the rest of the way and was never in trouble.

"He did a great job adjusting after Felton's homer," Deloach said.

The Broncos tied the game in the bottom of the second on catcher Ronnie Freeman's two-run homer over the center field fence off EC starter and loser Jarius Rhodes (4-6).

The visitors went ahead for good with three more in the third in an inning that had an extremely unusual play that confused both teams, the fans and the umpires for at least five minutes.

With the bases loaded, no outs and one run already in, right fielder Buddy Jones hit a shot to shortstop James who was playing in on the infield grass.

James dove for the ball, but the umpire ruled he didn't make the catch.

James recovered the ball and threw to second where K.C. Lorow was covering.

Lorow then tagged the runner, Seth Adkins who was still standing on second, then threw to third and moments later threw to first.

After a lengthy discussion the umpires decided that only Chase Hawkins, who had been on first, was retired.

"It was a very confusing play," Deloach said.

The umps ruled that when Lorow stepped on second, it removed the force at third and Adkins was allowed to retain the bag. Everyone else was safe.

Whatever, one run scored on the play and the Broncos added another on Grayson Flack's single to make it 5-2.

Brookwood increased it to 7-2 in the fourth, scoring with two outs on an EC throwing error on a double steal and a wild pitch.

"We were still in it at 5-2," Deloach said. "If we make a play and don't give up the wild pitch then we've still got ourselves a ball game."

Two more came across in the fifth, again after two were out, when Jon Robinson reached on an error and Jordan Erisman and Ross Heffley ripped back-to-back doubles.

The Broncos ended the game with three in the sixth on a bases-loaded hit batsman and successive singles by Erisman and Heffley.

Deloach used five pitchers in an attempt to stem the tide. After Rhodes left in the fourth, Cody Whitaker, Kevin Warner, Morgan Pittman and Lorow came on for the Indians.

In addition to Felton's homer, Carson Bedrosian had a fourth inning single and Kenny Reeves a sixth-inning base hit for the Indians' only safeties.

Josh Shiver, who was hit by a pitch in the sixth, was the only other EC base runner and the lone Indian to get as far as second base after the first inning.

Brookwood, now 30-3, hosts North Cobb in the state semifinals next week.