VALDOSTA — The Valdosta High baseball team’s final summer tournament got off to good start.
The Wildcats shutout the Jenkins High Warriors 4-0 on Thursday in their first game of the South Georgia Diamond Brawl.
One day after Jenkins beat Lowndes 1-0, the Warriors offense was quieted again by good pitching. This time it was from Valdosta’s Ross McCloud.
McCloud worked five innings and gave up three hits while striking out four and walking one.
“He worked all over the strike zone,” Valdosta head coach Bart Shuman said. “He had good command over his breaking ball.”
McLoud benefited from some good defense, as the ’Cats converted nine ground ball outs and tagged out a runner in a rundown. Centerfielder Russ Newbern made a diving catch ranging to his right to end the game.
“I was glad to see our guys play well defensively,” Shuman said. “Our infield made a lot of nice plays. Brent Robison, Chad Prain, Ryan Whildon all made some nice plays.”
Harrison Waller led the ’Cats at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a single, double, two runs scored and a stolen base from the leadoff spot.
“Harrison’s a solid player. Every game he’s a solid,” Shuman said. “You can count on him.”
The ’Cats took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Harrison singled to leadoff and stole second. He moved to third on a ground out by Brent Robison and scored on a sac fly by Chad Prain.
Valdosta pushed two more runs across the plate in the third, both with two outs. McLoud reached first on a fielders choice and Marte Spencer was brought in as a courtesy runner. Waller followed with a triple that scored Spencer, then came home on a single to center by Robison.
The ’Cats tacked on their final run in the fourth on a RBI single by David Mize that plated courtesy runner Kenyuntay Gatlin.
Ryan Richter took the loss for the Warriors after going 3 1-3 innings and giving up six hits and four runs.
Zack Mize picked up a six-out save for the ’Cats. Mize didn’t allow a hit and struckout three while walking one.
The ’Cats have three games left this summer, all at Bazemore Field in the Diamond Brawl. Their next game is today at 11 a.m. against Calvary. They wrap up their summer on Saturday against South Effingham at 9:45 a.m. and Thomas County Central at 2 p.m.
“I want to keep playing consistently the rest of the weekend and end the summer on a good note,” Shuman said.
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Related Photos
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Paul Leavy/The Valdosta Daily Times Valdosta’s Russ Newbern makes a run to first after a bunt during the game against Jenkins Thursday.
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