The Madison County baseball team got decked Friday but didn’t stay down for long.
The Red Raiders bounced back from a 10-0 loss to Winder-Barrow with a 5-4 win over traditionally-strong Heritage Monday at home.
Down 4-3 in the sixth, Daniel Townsend and Haden Martin supplied RBI singles to give Madison County (8-9, 5-6) the come-from-behind victory and keep it in the middle of the pack in the Region 8-AAAA standings.
Coach Charlie Griffeth was happy with the win but said there’s much work to be done.
“There are still a lot of things we have got to get better at,” he said. “We can’t be satisfied by any stretch of the imagination by where we’re at now, looking at the future.”
At press time, Madison County had nine games remaining, starting with second-place Salem Wednesday on the road (results were not available). Madison County returns home Friday to host region-leading Loganville before hitting the road again Monday to face Monroe Area.
The team is hoping for a late-season surge.
“Yeah, we’re going to try to put together a good stretch and see what happens,” Griffeth said.
Against Heritage, Matthew “Raybo” Robinson pitched two innings to earn the victory from the mound for Madison County, which avenged a 9-2 loss to the Patriots earlier this year.
Offensively, Towsend was a perfect 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, while Eddie Gilbert was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
The Red Raiders pounded out 11 hits Monday against Heritage after being held to just four singles in the loss to Winder-Barrow.
But more importantly, Madison County was able to come up with the big hits late.
Robinson doubled to lead off the decisive sixth inning, and then came home off Townsend’s RBI single. Martin then provided the go-ahead run with a two-out single to score Townsend.
“It was big to see Haden get that big hit to pretty much win it for us, to bounce back,” Griffeth said. “It was good. We’re still competing.”
Dustin Roberts started on the hill for the Red Raiders, but gave way to Robinson in the sixth inning with Madison County trailing 4-3. Robinson surrendered no hits in his two innings of work, striking out four batters.
The Red Raiders needed a pick-me-up after the one-sided loss to Winder-Barrow.
The Bulldoggs pushed five runs across the plate in the bottom of the third to break the game open and hand Madison County its sixth region loss.
Prior to losing to Winder-Barrow, Madison County beat region cellar-dweller Cedar Shoals 8-2 last Wednesday (March 31).
Bracken Turner hit a two-run homer in the top of the first to set the tone for Madison County. Others with big offensive nights were J. Ben Hardman (2-for-4, double, RBI) and Eddie Gilbert (2-for-3, RBI). Robinson and Seawright also drove in scores with sacrifice flies.
Dylan Chandler worked three innings of shutout relief for the victory, surrendering no hits and striking out six batters.
At 5-6, Madison County was in sixth place in 8-AAAA at press time.
But Griffeth said the focus is on self-improvement, not region standings improvement, during this final stretch.
“We’ve got to do a better job base running, we’ve got to get some more two-out hits and not strand so many guys and make better pitches,” Griffeth said.
