Still a chance. Still a sliver of hope.
That’s what Northside has in relation to the 1-AAAAAA baseball standings. Granted it got a little smaller when the Eagles fell to Coffee 6-3 on Tuesday, regardless it’s still there for the taking. The loss – on senior night to add insult to injury – put Northside at 0-10 and last in the five-team division. It also left the Trojans at 2-8 and fourth. (Lee County at 9-1, Houston County at 9-3 and Valdosta at 6-4 is how the rest stack up.)
However, the two have a doubleheader set for Friday at Coffee. If the Eagles can win, they can even up records and have a chance at the tiebreaker over the Trojans – winning two of the three meetings.
As far as Tuesday, things looked extremely good after five innings. Northside led 3-0 at that time. All of its runs came in the second inning.
With one out, Austin Mathews doubled. Tyler Wilson walked and Mitchell Upshaw singled to load the bases. The next hitter, Jacob Catey struck out, but during that at bat, Mathews stole home. Wilson moved to third on the play and Tyler Smith, who came in to run for Upshaw, raced to second. C Staten then hit a single to score both.
Mathews also worked six innings. He gave up a hit and hit a batsman in the third but stranded both. He gave up a single in the fourth but that runner was left at second. He gave up a leadoff walk in the fifth but a double play erased it.
That good work in the books, he apparently tired in the sixth. The inning began with a single. An error and a hit batsman loaded the bases where a pair of doubles and another single did the rest. By the time the third out was in the books, Northside trailed 5-3. Coffee, this time Ross McDaniel on the mound, added an insurance run in the seventh and then sent the Eagles down one-two-three in the seventh for the win.
It out-hit Northside 9-6. Mathews had two of the Eagles’ in three at bats. Staten was 1-3 with those two aforementioned runs driven in. Darius Clarington also had a hit in three at bats and Levi Walker one on four at bats.
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