Call it a well-timed three-game winning streak.
Following an atypical 0-3 start, the Madison County High School baseball team has rallied for three consecutive victories as region play begins this week.
Few players on this team had varsity at-bats or innings pitched on their résumés prior to this season, so Red Raider coach Charlie Griffeth said this team is still learning as it goes.
“Everybody is just getting a little more comfortable, realizing that you play baseball the same way,” Griffeth said. “We’re not playing the New York Yankees out there.”
The Red Raiders improved to 3-3 Monday night with a 2-0 win over Stephens County in a rematch with the Class AAA club.
“We’re playing better … It’s play and hope you improve each time you play after you get your feet wet some,” Griffeth said. “And they have.”
Madison County begins its 20-game region slate tonight (Thursday) against Heritage.
The region schedule continues against an improved Salem outfit Friday at home and against Loganville, one of the best teams in the region, on the road Monday.
While Madison County’s region schedule is tough early, Griffeth thinks Region 8-AAAA is wide-open apart from Loganville and Winder-Barrow — two teams that should battle for first place this year.
“Besides Winder and Loganville, we probably have more parity than any other year that I can remember,” Griffeth said.
In Monday’s win, Dustin Roberts supplied all of the Red Raiders’ offense in the fourth inning with a two-run homer as Madison County got back to the .500 mark. Roberts had two hits.
Dylan Chandler pitched five innings for the win, and Brock Turner and Matthew “Raybo” Robinson each worked a scoreless inning of relief in Madison County’s second win this year over the Indians.
In fact, Robinson struck out three batters. In two games against Stephens County, the senior has faced nine Indian batters and fanned all nine.
Brock Turner’s inning of relief was an encouraging sign, too, since the sophomore was coming off the disabled list.
“It’s good to get him back and we hope he can stay healthy,” Griffeth said. “It would be a big key to winning some more games.”
Before the Stephens County game, Madison County picked up a huge victory over Brookwood Saturday, beating the Broncos 11-8 behind a seven-run second inning.
Brookwood advanced to the Final Four in Class AAAAA last season and won the state title two years ago. Some polls had the Broncos rated as high as no. 2 in the nation back in 2008.
“It was good to show that we can play baseball and compete,” Griffeth said. “But that’s baseball anybody can beat anybody on a given night.”
On the mound, Matt Savage worked four innings for the victory.
Offensively, Bracken Turner went 4-for-4 driving home three runs, while Robinson was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Other leading hitters were Kyle Dean (2-for-4, RBI), Haden Martin (2-for-4) and Jarrett Seawright (2-for-4). Dylan Chandler drove home two runs, while Roberts and Tiller each had one RBI.
Madison County pounded out 14 hits.
The victory over Brookwood perhaps left the team a little too confident by the time Monday’s rematch with Stephens County rolled around.
“They probably thought they could beat the New York Yankees since they beat Brookwood,” Griffeth said. “Stephens gave them a little sense of reality.”
Madison County broke into the win column back on Friday with an 8-0 blanking of Stephens County in the first meeting between the two teams.
Steven Tiller went 2-for-4 with four RBIs.
The Red Raiders plated four runs in the top of the first inning, then added one insurance score in the fourth and three more in the fifth.
Roberts pitched five innings, surrendering five hits and no walks while striking out two. Robinson then threw two dominant innings of relief, allowing no hits and striking out all six batters he faced.
The victory over the Indians followed an 11-6 loss to Jefferson last Thursday (March 4).
Leading hitters were Robinson (2-for-4, 2 RBIs), Roberts (2-for-4, 1 RBI), and J. Ben Hardman (2-for-4), who was injured against the Dragons and could be out two-to-four weeks. Chandler, Haden Martin and Tiller all dove home one run.
