E.A. Sports Today

Falcons frustrated

Hackleburg silences Donoho’s bats, then plays aggressively with the game well in hand

By East Alabama Sports Today

HACKLEBURG – The Donoho Falcons’ stay in the Class 1A baseball playoffs was shortlived, and coach Steve Gendron wasn’t happy about the way it unfolded.

Hackleburg’s pitchers held the Falcons to two hits in each game while sweeping the series 9-1, 13-1.

That’s not what steamed Gendron, though. He was upset with the way the Panthers (18-17) continued to be aggressive on the bases even with the game well in hand, and he wasn’t holding back.

“The pitchers we saw weren’t very good, actually,” he said. “We had opportunities; they walked a bunch of guys, but we couldn’t get them in. We made quite a few errors, which has been MO (modis operandi) this year.

“We will get better and the next time we play them we will run up the score because they’re the biggest joke of a team I have ever competed against.”

Garrett Steed and Hall Billings had the Falcons’ hits in both games. Steed got the first one in the opener on a liner to center with one out in the third inning. Seth Ford’s sacrifice fly in the sixth brought Donoho’s only run in the opener.

In the nightcap, the Falcons (5-13) were down 5-0 before they even batted. They hurt themselves in the inning with five errors. They scored their run in the bottom of the first on Hall Billings’ line RBI single to right. They didn’t get another hit until Steed’s single with two outs in the fifth.

Hackleburg 9, Donoho 1
Donoho 000 001 0 — 1 2 6
Hackleburg 202 104 x — 9 8 0

WP: Noah Barnett. LP: Seth Ford. 2B: Evan Crowe (H), Dustyn Fuller (H). 3B: Court Stidham (H).

Hackleburg 13, Donoho 1
Hackleburg 501 16 — 13 9 0
Donoho 100 00 — 1 2 8

WP: Stone Fincher. LP: Hall Billings. 2B: Stone Fincher (H), Dalton Rackard (H)

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