Colts stay hot with shutout of Murray County

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, April 4, 2017

CHATSWORTH — Their recipe for success isn’t complicated, but lately the Colts have been following it to perfection.

Coahulla Creek High School’s baseball team won its fifth straight game on Tuesday, defeating Murray County 7-0 on the road. The Colts (14-7, 8-2 Region 6-3A) say the win streak has come from good pitching, playing good defense and focusing on driving the ball up the middle at the plate.

It’s a simple approach, but senior Hayden Lock believes this is the best his team has played in his career.

“Coach always says, no matter if (the pitch) is 70 or 90 miles per hour, just try to take it up the middle and good things will happen,” Lock says. “The whole team has been doing that and we’ve had success. We’re hot right now and this team is swinging the best we have in my four years here. We’re coming together as a team and you’re only as strong as your weakest link. One through nine we are pretty strong right now.”

Murray County (7-14, 4-6) starting pitcher Cole Sparks kept the Colts off balance the first time through the lineup with an effective breaking ball. Coahulla Creek stranded four runners in the first two innings before Trent Collins opened the scoring with a RBI single in the third. After walking the first two batters in the fourth, Sparks gave way to Brendan Owenby, and the Colts’ bats came to life with three runs.

Drew Sage reached on an infield single to load the bases and Ethan Whaley walked in the first run before a two-RBI single by Lock scored two more. Owenby got out of another bases loaded jam with a strikeout to limit the damage, but the Colts added three more runs in the fifth with a RBI double by Sage and a two-RBI single by Whaley. Lock’s third RBI of the night scored the last run in the seventh as Kyle Dotson pitched the final two innings for the Indians.

“(Sparks) did a good job of keeping us off balance and we were a little slow to adjust at the plate, but the second and third time through the lineup we made the adjustments we needed and started squaring some balls up,” Coahulla Creek coach Michael Bolen said.

Murray County coach Kim Alderdice said all three Murray County pitchers gave him what he wanted as he looked to save some of his bigger arms for later in the week, but the offense didn’t support them. Collins started for the Colts and struck out nine over five innings while allowing just two hits.

“We think we have a better chance against Sonoraville and Haralson later this week so we saved some of our harder throwers, but Cole did a great job,” Alderdice said. “I think we got exactly what we needed out of Cole, Brendan and Kyle, but we scored zero runs … We have a lot of guys swinging well in the cages right now but we have to find a way to bring it to the field.”

Eli Turso and Spencer Hawkins each pitched a scoreless inning in relief for Coahulla Creek.

Lock led the Colts with three hits and three RBIs and Whaley also had three RBIs. Lock entered this week third in the area with 21 RBIs on the season and Collins said the Colts look to him for a spark.

“He’s tearing it up right now,” Collins said. “He’s one of our most reliable hitters and we look to him to lead us and he’s done that.”