Statesboro takes Game 1 against Veterans

Mother Nature wasn’t very nice. Statesboro wasn’t much better.

The Blue Devils managed to scrape together a pair of runs in the fourth. She opened the skies in the sixth – from drizzle to steady rain to downpour. The combination gave the visitor the win in the opening round of its best two-out-of-three matchup against Veterans in the opening day of the Class AAAAA baseball playoffs.

The two will meet again today (Friday) for a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. Veterans will need to win both to advance.

With Ben Gibbs, for the Warhawks, and Wright Rockett, for the Blue Devils, on the mound, the game really hinged couple of key plays. One was an error that enabled both of the runs to score. (Of course a single and a walk paved the way for that to happen.) The other was a stellar double play turned by Statesboro’s Davis Wiggins at shortstop. That eliminated what had unfolded as a bases-loaded threat.

Aside from that, both had meager opportunities. That again, was because of Gibbs and Rockett.

Rockett was just a tad less effective. He worked around a single and a walk in the first and a walk in the second – both of his free passes; he also had three strikeouts. Settled in, he set Veterans down in order in the third and fourth.

Offensively, Jacob Pierce had one of the hits in two at bats and Tyler Mayfield had the other, also in two at bats.

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