By By Austin Bishop/Special to The Star
March 9, 2001
DECATUR The second through fifth innings didn't please Lamar School baseball coach Ronnie Key too much on Thursday afternoon.
But the first and sixth innings were another story.
The visiting Raiders scored five runs in the top of the first, then exploded for 11 in the sixth to break open a tight game and take a 17-2 win by the run rule.
All nine starters got at least one hit in the game for Lamar, as the Raiders finished the game with 15 hits.
Newton County Academy had cut Lamar's lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a double by Kyle Chaney and a run-scoring single by Adam Godwin.
Lamar used back-to-back singles by Drew Moffett and Justin Brewer and a walk to Monroe Mayfield to load the bases with nobody out in the top of the sixth.
Jeff Knight then delivered a sacrifice fly to right to make it 7-2. After a walk to Jared McKee loaded the bases, Ryan Satcher ripped a two-run double to right-center to give Lamar control of the game.
From there the Raiders were able to pour it on, as Zach Moore and Mayfield added singles in the inning and McKee had a double.
McKee did a solid job on the mound for the Raiders, spreading eight hits over five innings, before Knight came on to pitch the sixth and record three outs on just five pitches.
Lamar took the 5-0 lead in the top of the first behind RBI singles by Knight, Nick Lisi and Bobby Stone and a two-run double off the bat of Moore.
Newton cut it to 5-1 in the second when Scotty Massey singled, stole second and scored on a hit by Daniel Russell.
Lamar, now 2-1 on the year, stretched it out to 6-1 in the fourth when Moore singled to open the inning and later scored on a groundout by Mayfield.
Moore and Moffett had three hits each for the winners, while Brewer and McKee had two each.
Chris Walker and Russell had two hits each for the Generals, who are now 0-2 on the year.
The two teams face each other on March 16 when NCA visits Wall Field for the Lamar Spring Break Tournament.
Lamar and NCA play each other at 3 p.m. in varsity action, while Leake and Newton meet at 3 p.m. on March 17 and Leake faces Lamar at 5 p.m. on the same day.