Eagles win baseball area

Senior pitcher, freshman hitter spark shut out for area title

By East Alabama Sports Today

JACKSONVILLE — The last three years Jacksonville got into a do-or-die situation to win the area and came up short. Sid Thurmond and the Golden Eagles were determined not to let that happen again.

Thurmond pitched a complete-game shutout and freshman Blake Morris hit a two-run double as Jacksonville defeated White Plains for the Class 4A Area 11 title Thursday 8-0.

The win sends the Golden Eagles 18-5) to host Cherokee County in the opening round of the playoffs. The loss left the Wildcats as the odd-man-out in a strong area, allowing Cleburne County to gain the area’s second spot.[pms-restrict subscription_plans=”9,10″]

Jacksonville scored two in the first without benefit of a hit and three in the fifth. Morris, who drove in the only run in the Eagles’ series-opening win, had his two-run double in the fifth.

They added three more in the sixth.

Thurmond didn’t have his best stuff and regularly pitched out of jams to keep White Plains off the board.

White Plains put two runners in scoring position with one out in the third and fourth, and a runner at third with one out in the sixth and failed to score.

The Wildcats were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position through the first six innings. They were 0-for-8 in the opener.

“Their pitcher was the story.” White Plains coach Chad Hudson said.

This story will be updated.