Adam MacDonald
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
VALDOSTA — The Lowndes Vikings tried, but they could not pull off another amazing comeback in region play.
Six days after overcoming a 12-0 deficit to beat Northside, Lowndes failed to come back from an 8-3 deficit to the Coffee Trojans and lost 8-5 on Friday at Noel George Field.
The loss drops the Vikings to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in Region 1-AAAAA while No. 8 Coffee moved to 8-3 overall and 2-1 in the region.
Trojans starter Walker White retired 11 of 13 batters from the third through the sixth inning, allowing just a hit batter and a walk. He gave up three runs in the first, but the Trojans scored eight unanswered runs to take an 8-3 lead.
Lowndes started the seventh inning with four straight hits and two runs off of White to make it 8-5, but Logan Miller came on in relief and retired all three batters he faced to pick up the unlikely save.
Zac Freeman went 1 for 1 with a single and three walks for the Vikings. Caleb Thomas took the loss after pitching three innings and allowing four earned runs. Four Viking pitchers combined to walk seven batters and throw three wild pitches.
Walker pitched six innings and gave up five runs for the Trojans. The Trojans 5-6-7 hitters went 6 for 10 with two walks.
Lowndes jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Freeman and Bryant Alonso led off with walks, and after a wild pitch by White moved up the runners, Hunter sliced a double down the right field line that scored Freeman and Alonso. Hunter came in to score to make it 3-0 on an error when Coffee first baseman Hunter Ross failed to squeeze a throw from third that would have ended the inning.
The Trojans struck back in the top of the second. Garrett Adams drilled a two-run double to the gap in right-center to make it 3-2. Ross laid down a bunt that moved Adams to third, and while Thomas threw to first to get Ross, Adams gambled and charged home from third. He beat Kyler Kirkland’s high throw to tie the game 3-3.
Coffee took a 4-3 lead in the fourth. Jonathan Farabow led off with a double and advanced to third on a balk by Thomas. Farabow’s brother, Jordan, singled him home to give the Trojans their first lead of the day.
Lowndes had a chance to even the game in the fourth, but Mike Moore struck out for the third time to end the inning. Freeman was stranded on second and Alonso was stranded on first.
Coffee broke the game open with three runs in the sixth. After retiring the first six batters he faced in relief, Cole Parker served up a home run to Luke Anderson to lead off the sixth. Parker then gave up back-to-back singles to allow another run to score. The final run of the inning came on sac bunt by Ross that made it 7-3.
Coffee added one more in the seventh to make it 8-3 before the Vikings started their comeback. Freeman led off the seventh with a single and Alonso singled to put runners on first and third. Brandon Gilbert drove in Freeman with a single and Seth Evans singled to score Alonso and make it 8-5.
However, Miller came in and immediately struck out Hunter and got Corey Elder to ground out to end the game two batters later.
The Vikings will travel across town to play the Valdosta Wildcats on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
