JACKSON, Tenn. - Everything went right for the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Stallions Wednesday afternoon as they needed only seven innings to rout Brewton-Parker 15-4 in the Southern States Athletic Conference baseball tournament.
ABAC exploded for 17 hits in a mere 34 at-bats and
Reigh Jordan went the distance on the mound as the Stallions picked up their 37th victory of the season and 11th in a row.
Next up for ABAC is Mobile on Thursday at 2 p.m. EST. Pool play means the Day 1 winners face off against the losers. Mobile, though the No. 4 seed in the tournament, fell victim to a hot-hitting No. 5 Faulkner, 8-4. The Rams won two out of three from the Stallions in a road series earlier in the season.
The Stallions were already up 9-0 in the 4th frame when
Quinten Rawls made the offensive statement of the game - a three-run homer into the wind and over the left field "Blue Monster" at Rockabillys Stadium.
Two early leaping catches by
Dylan Davis in right field set the defensive tone for the game, as did a pair of excellent picks at first by
Chasin Cash in the 4th.Â
Offensively, all spots 1-9 in the lineup had at least one hit and
Zack Bowman was 4-for-5.
ABAC struck for three runs in the 1st inning. Rawls and Bowman reached with singles, the latter picking up an RBI after Rawls stole second. Davis drove in Bowman with a chopper past second and with two outs,
Drew Rothschild singled in Davis.
Billy Girgis led off the 2nd with a double. Bowman joined him on the basepaths before
Kam Taylor picked up a pair of two-out RBIs with a base hit to right field to make it 5-0.
The biggest inning was the 4th, when Rawls' smash was part of a seven-run frame.
Eleven came to the plate and the first five hitters reached. Bowman doubled, Cash singled and Davis drove in a run with a double. Taylor followed with a two-bagger off the right field wall, scoring both runners.Â
Cameron Campbell singled and
Parker Wallace did the same, leading to Rawls's homer.
ABAC's last three runs were in the 5th.
Campbell drove in Davis with a hit. Wallace hit a sacrifice fly that drove in Taylor. Campbell also scored on the play as he darted for the extra base when Brewton-Parker caught a wandering Stallion in a rundown.
Jordan kept the Barons without a hit until the 4th inning. Brewton-Parker scored two in the 5th and two more in the 7th. The first four men of the 7th reached, but Jordan, already over 100 pitches, dug deep and retired the next three to preserve not only a shortened ending but also ABAC's bullpen.
Besides Bowman's four hits, Taylor had three. Taylor drove in four runs and Rawls had three RBIs. Jordan fanned three, including on the final out.
