The first three hitters in the Coffee Trojans’ lineup in Friday’s sweep of a doubleheader against the Veterans War Hawks in Kathleen – Ben Fussell, Jimmy Timothy, and Michael Strickland – were a combined 15-23 with 12 RBI, 11 runs scored, and six walks. Fussell, who played short in game one and pitched in game two, was a perfect 6-6 with two RBI, seven runs scored, and four walks – all of which were intentional (Timothy followed three of the four passes with RBI hits).
The Trojans won game one 13-6 and game two 12-10. The doubleheader finished the region schedule for the season. Coffee wrapped things up with a 10-5 region record and the #3 seed going into the state playoffs. The Houston County Bears went 14-1 in region play and won the title while the Lee County Trojans came in second with an 11-4 mark. Houston swept Lee to finish league play and claim the championship. Coffee handed Houston its only region loss. Veterans will be the #4 seed.
In game one, Coffee was leading 1-0 when the Trojans broke things wide open in the fourth inning – helped in part by several War Hawks’ miscues. The inning began with a Michael Strickland strikeout. The third strike, however, got away from the catcher and Strickland took off for first. The throw missed its mark and Strickland was safe. Head coach Scott Grove called for Carter McMillan to bunt and he executed the assignment beautifully. McMillan reached safely and Strickland went to second. Coach Grove opted for another bunt and, again helped by a Veterans error, Brax Carson made it safely to first while everyone else moved up a base as well. During Taven Harden’s at-bat, Strickland and McMillan scored on another War Hawks’ error. Then Harden singled to score Carson. Gavin McElroy reached next on a hit by pitch; Coffee had runners at first and second still with nobody out. The next two Trojans struck out, which brought Fussell to the plate. Harden and pinch runner Connor Stewart advanced due to a passed ball, leaving first base open with two outs. Veterans opted to intentionally walk Fussell to load the bases. That brought Timothy to the plate – and he didn’t waste any time. He singled on the first pitch, scoring Harden and Stewart to give Coffee a 6-0 lead.
The Trojans scored three in the sixth and four in the seventh to pad their lead. Two of Coffee’s seventh-inning runs came when Timothy singled after the War Hawks intentionally walked Fussell again.
Gavin McElroy went six innings for the win. Weston Brown threw the seventh in relief.
The Trojans picked up where they left off when game two began. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first then broke the game open with a five-run fifth inning. They added another run in the sixth and three in the seventh to take a 12-9 lead heading into the War Hawks’ last at-bat. As it turned out, Coffee needed all those insurance runs; Veterans made a run at the Trojans in the bottom of the inning, scoring three runs but still coming up a little short.
When the fifth inning began, Coffee was trailing 5-3. McElroy started things off with a single. Fussell followed with another single. Timothy bunted, moving McElroy and Fussell into scoring position. Strickland reached on an infield hit to load the bases with one out. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning, the Trojans were on the wrong side of a very scary moment. On a 2-0 count, Carson was hit in the head by a pitch and had to leave the game. Reid Harden took first base for Carson, loading the bases with two outs. Reid’s brother, Taven, walked, scoring Fussell to tie the game at five and keeping the bases loaded. Then came the inning’s big blow – McMillan hit a bases-clearing triple to catapult Coffee to an 8-5 lead.
Veterans got two back in the bottom of the inning. Coffee padded their lead with a run in the sixth and three more in the seventh to take a 12-7 advantage. The War Hawks made the Trojans squirm a little with three in the seventh but that’s all they could muster. Coffee won 12-10 and completed the season sweep.
McMillan had three hits and McElroy had two. Fussell, McMillan, and Strickland all tripled. Fussell picked up the win with a four-inning outing. Eli Wood went 2 1/3 innings and Brown snatched up the save with 2/3 of an inning of work.
The Trojans are 16-11 overall and have three more regular season games remaining. They are at Pierce County Tuesday at 6 p.m. then Pierce travels to Coffee for a Thursday afternoon game, also at 6 p.m. Friday, Crisp County comes to town for another 6 p.m. matchup to close out the season.