Friday's Daily News 'n Notes: Braves have a wild night; Bacon win again; Veterans' Holt at CWS; and more
Friday’s Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.
Veterans’ Holt sidelined in Omaha
Gabe Holt watched his Texas Tech teammates with the decided game of the weekend’s Super Regional with Oklahoma State, courtesy of a broken thumb. How much watching and playing he’ll do in the College World Series starting Saturday is now a question. What is known is that he’ll sign with Milwaukee once the season is over.
In The Latest Coverage.
Macon wins second straight against Savannah
Macon’s fortunes haven’t been all that good against Savannah, but the Bacon won their second straight against the Bananas with a 6-1 win in Savannah.
A four-run fifth broke a 1-all tie. Four straight singles along with a throwing error brought in a run, as did a double play and then a single and double. J Miller, Cal Gentry (Perry/Georgia College) and Cole Blatchford had RBIs in the inning.
Macon got two-hit nights from M.J. Rookard (MGSU), Miller, Gentry, Blatchford, Josh Nowak, and Cory Bivins (GMC Prep).
Preston Sparks (Veterans) fanned five with two walks and four hits in six innings to get the win and improve to 2-0.
Macon hosts Savannah on Saturday, is at Lexington County on Monday and hosts Lexington County on Tuesday.
Braves Report
Brian McCann poked a two-run single to left-center to cap a comeback and a walk-off as Atlanta stormed back to top Philadelphia 9-8.
The three-run ninth capped the Braves rally, which consisted of eight runs in the final four innings.
Jerry Blevins got out of self-inflicted trouble, starting with a leadoff walk, in the top of the ninth, Atlanta down 8-6.
Hector Neris took over for the Phillies in the bottom half, and was on the verge of the save early, getting two outs after Dansby Swanson’s leadoff single.
Nick Markakis, who was 9 for 17 against Neris, walked, and Austin Riley looped a 1-2 liner to left that Jay Bruce made a nice play on, albeit soon an irrelevant play.
That brought in Swanson and put runners on second and third.
Up came crowd favorite McCann, who sent the 2-2 pitch into the gap to win it, and give him 1,000 career RBI.
Philadelphia popped Max Fried for seven hits, five runs, and two homers to get off to a good start before an announced 41,975, the first sellout of the season, although a chunk of folks skipped the Friday night traffic.
The Phillies went up 3-1 with two in the third, and added single runs in the fourth and fifth, chasing Fried in the fifth. The Braves got one in the sixth, and the teams traded two runs in the seventh for a 7-4 Philly lead. They traded runs in the eighth.
Two runs against Dan Winkler were unearned.
Charlie Culberson’s two out triple to the right-field corner scored Ozzie Albies in the eighth top pull Atlanta within 8-6 and set up the ninth-inning heroics.
Atlanta starters continue to be inconsistent. Fried’s ERA in his first four starts was 1.48, and it’s 5.51 in the last 10.
On the other hand, he’s be interesting at the plate, battling through a 13-pitch at-bat Friday for a walk.
Bryce Harper had one of Philadelphia’s homers, the offense led by Scott Kingery’s three hits.
Next: Saturday, vs. Philadelphia, 7:20 p.m., FSSO; Sunday, vs. Philadelphia, 1:20 p.m., MLBN/FSSO; Monday, vs. NY Mets, 7:20 p.m., FSSE; Tuesday, vs. NY Mets, 7:20 p.m., FSSE; Wednesday, vs. NY Mets, MLBN/FSSE
Sometimes, lineup tweaks work out well
Around/About Georgia
DC Quinn working hard for HC Quinn
England to Atlanta? No problem