Out in front
- Updated: March 17, 2016
White Plains, Cleburne County take the early lead in 4A Area 11 baseball race after completing area-opening sweeps
Thursday’s scores
Cleburne Co. 8, Jacksonville 5
White Plains 8-12, Saks 6-2
Westbrook Christian 10-10, Alexandria 2-2
Pleasant Valley at Glencoe
Weaver at Ragland
By East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE – Cleburne County grabbed a share of the early lead in Class 4A Area 11, but Tigers coach Vaughn Lee didn’t want to read anything more into the series than two victories over Jacksonville.
The Tigers completed a two-game sweep of the seventh-ranked Golden Eagles Thursday with an 8-5 victory at Henry Farm Park; they didn’t play a third game. With White Plains sweeping Saks, both series winners are 2-0 in what is expected to be a tight area race.
The Tigers and Wildcats play April 5 and 7.
“We’ve got about a two-week break before we get back to area play but that was good,” Lee said. “We’re not going to look ahead because you have no idea what’s going to happen. You’ve just got to focus on the next opponent. You’ve got to let things play out.”
Sophomore Jordan Brown “did a good job throwing strikes and getting ahead of hitters” and gave the Tigers (8-7) another complete game in the series. He gave up three earned runs and struck out four.
He also had a two-run single in the five-run fourth inning that put the Tigers up for good. Josh Davis had a two-run double in the inning and Austin Harler drove in a run with a single.
Colton Clark, Josh Glass and Austin Lackey had two hits apiece for Jacksonville and Lackey drove in four runs.
White Plains 8, Saks 6
White Plains 12, Saks 2
Jake Spivey had five hits and six RBIs in the doubleheader and Jackson Wilkinson pitched a six-inning complete game with nine strikeouts in the nightcap as White Plains swept the three-game series to even its record (6-6).
Macey Carr went 3-for-3, while Spivey, Brett Beaver and Tucker Harrell all had two hits in the opener. Andrew Cronan worked the first six innings and struck out eight to get the win.
Spivey and Cronan both drove in three runs in the nightcap. Wilkinson scattered four hits from the mound.
“We handled our business tonight,” White Plains coach Wes Henderson said. “I’m pleased with how we competed.
“We are happy to have put ourselves in a position to compete in the next few weeks (but) right now we are focused on Saturday against Westbrook and Oneonta. We don’t look too far in the future. We play every next game like it’s the most important one of the year.”
Harley Burgess and Jalen Childs both went 2-for-4 in the opener for Saks and each had a hit in the nightcap.
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