If the rest of the Coffee Trojans’ region schedule unfolds like the Lee County series did, Coffee Regional Medical Center’s Cardiology Group is going to see a significant increase in its number of patients. Tuesday’s game one was decided in the seventh inning. Then the final two games of the series – a double-header played Friday night in Leesburg – took 19 total innings to decide. Coffee won game one 10-9 in 11 innings. Lee took game two 1-0 in eight innings.
Game one was a back-and-forth affair for the first five innings. Lee jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first. Coffee scored two in the third to pull ahead 2-1. Then Lee scored three in the fourth to retake the lead 4-2.
In the fifth, Coffee returned the favor, scoring six runs to gain an 8-4 advantage. Reid Harden led things off with a single. Will Walker walked to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Ben Fussell reached safely on a bunt and advanced to second on an errant throw. Harden scored and Walker went to third. Jimmy Timothy followed with a walk to load the bases. After a strikeout, Walker scored on a balk during Carter McMillan’s at-bat. The miscue by Lee tied the score at four and moved Timothy to second and Fussell to third. McMillan flied out to right, scoring Fussell and advancing Timothy to third. With two outs, Coffee had regained the lead 5-4.
Two-out hits will get you to baseball heaven, especially with runners on. Eli Wood kept the rally going with a single that scored Timothy. Two more singles – by Gavin McElroy and Barrett Harrell – loaded the bases and brought Harden to the plate for the second time of the inning. He picked up another hit, a two-RBI single that gave Coffee an 8-4 lead.
Lee, however, wasn’t ready to concede anything to its opponents. They put a four-run inning of their own in the bottom of the frame to tie things at eight apiece. And for the next five innings, that’s exactly how the game remained.
In the eleventh inning, Coffee had finally had enough. Timothy set the stage with a one-out single. Stewart also singled to put two on. Another balk, again while McMillan was at the plate, moved both Stewart and Timothy into scoring position, still with just one out. Unfortunately, a pop out was unable to advance the runners and Lee saw an opportunity to escape the eleventh without suffering any real damage.
Remember that statement about two-out hits? Michael Strickland, who had entered the game in the fifth inning as Coffee’s third pitcher of the night, again showed how true it is. He worked the count to 3-2 then drove a single to left, scoring both Timothy and Stewart to give Coffee a 10-8 lead.
As had been the case way back in the fifth inning, Lee wouldn’t go quietly. After Coffee retired the leadoff hitter for that all-important first out, two singles and a walk loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly scored a run to cut Coffee’s lead to 10-9. Another walk loaded the bases again. Then Harden, who moved from left field to the mound with two outs in the seventh, recorded the final out of the game on a called third strike.
Stewart was 3-6 with two RBI and a run scored. McElroy was also 3-6. Harden, Harrell, Wood, and Fussell each had two hits. Fussell, Timothy, and Walker also scored twice. Coffee used four pitchers during the game. Strickland earned the win with 6 1/3 innings of work. He gave up two runs (both earned) on five hits. He also struck out 10 and walked one.
The two teams didn’t have long to think about what had just transpired. After a short break, they took the field again for game two. While the nightcap was a nail-biter in its own right, it wasn’t the roller coaster that was game one. Neither team scored through seven innings and, just like game one, the contest went into extra innings.
In the eighth, Coffee had an opportunity end the shutout but came up a little short. With one out, McMillan was hit by a pitch then stole second. Jaydon Register went in to pinch run for McMillan and he advanced to third on a passed ball. A ground out to short ended the inning without Coffee scoring.
In the bottom of the inning, Lee pounced immediately. Brendan Nash led off with a double then a bunt by Nate Shepard ended up scoring Nash for the walk-off win. Timothy led the way offensively, going 3-4. Will Walker was 1-1 with Coffee’s only extra base hit, a double in the top of the seventh. Fussell started for Coffee and went the distance with an 88-pitch outing. He struck out seven and walked one.
Coffee is now 4-7 on the season and 1-2 in region play. Things don’t get any easier on Tuesday when the Trojans travel to Thomasville to face the Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets. On Friday, March 14, the two teams will play a double-header in Douglas beginning at 4:30 p.m.