Fast start

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: March 11, 2017

Jacksonville scores eight in first inning and it was more than enough with Casey dealing from the mound

Colin Casey gave up only one hit in five innings for Jacksonville. (Photo by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)

2017 CALHOUN COUNTY BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
Friday’s Games
No. 9 Wellborn 6, No. 8 Pleasant Valley 5
No. 4 Ohatchee 13, No. 13 Faith Christian 3
No. 6 Piedmont 15, No. 11 Jacksonville Christian 1
No. 5 Alexandria 10, No. 12 Donoho 0
No. 3 White Plains 17, No. 14 Anniston 2
No. 7 Saks 5, No. 10 Weaver 0
Saturday’s Games
(All games at Signature Field)
Alexandria 6, Ohatchee 4
Piedmont 3, White Plains 1
No. 2 Jacksonville 11, Saks 0
No. 1 Oxford 12, Wellborn 2
March 13
(All games at Signature Field)
Semifinal No. 1: Piedmont vs. Jacksonville, 4:30 p.m.
Semifinal No. 2: Alexandria vs. Oxford, 7 p.m.
March 14
Consolation game, 4:30 p.m. (pod field)
Championship game, 7 p.m. (Signature)

By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today

OXFORD — Jacksonvile got strong pitching and solid defense and cruised to a 11-0 win over Saks Saturday at Choccolocco Park to advance to the county tournament semifinals.

The second-seeded Golden Eagles (7-1) will now play Piedmont in Monday’s 4:30 p.m. semifinal at Choccolocco Park.

The Golden Eagles took control of their tournament debut early, scoring eight times in the first inning with the benefit of just one hit. They took advantage of five walks, two hit batters and four Saks errors.

Colin Casey had the only hit in the inning and then was promptly picked off by Saks lefty Jalen Borders. The hit equaled the number of hits Casey allowed from the mound for Jacksonville.

The Golden Eagles picked up two more runs in the third inning on three hits. Josh Glass had a triple, Colton Clark had a double and Mak Curry had a single.

Glass drove home Kyle Seeger with the final Jacksonville run in the bottom of the fourth with a single to left.

Casey struck out six and only allowed a second-inning single to Cody Hopkins. He issued two walks. Bryce Walters finished up in relief.

“Colin pitched well today,” Jacksonville coach David Deerman said. “We’ve got a lot of pitchers that we have confidence in and can throw strikes. We have some important area games next Thursday and Friday, so we’ve got to figure out next week. We will run guys out there and see what happens.”

Saks pitchers Borders, Dylan Chauncey and Jimmie Harlin could not find the plate as they hit five Golden Eagle batters and walked six others.

The top three of the Golden Eagle batting order reached base 10 times in 12 at-bats. Glass was 2-for-2 with two walks and scored three runs. Casey and Colton Clark were both on base three times.

“We had a lot of guys on base tonight,” said Deerman. “We played really hard and I was proud of how our kids played.”

Saks 000 00 — 0 1 5
Jacksonville 802 1x — 11 7 0
WP: Colin Casey. LP: Jalen Borders. 2B: Colton Clark (J). 3B: Josh Glass (J).