Can't Stand The Heat

     

     The scheduled 4:00 game against the Heat in Kennesaw was moved to 6:00 at Hobgood Park in Woodstock. Heading straight into the mouth of the traffic monster that is 75/285 was an adventure indeed. Rush hour traffic + a bad wreck + a lil Beek plea for a bathroom break + a car fire (not ours) = almost two hours in the car for this blogger.  Mercer had just enough time to get in the dugout, get his bat and helmet, run to the on-deck circle and strike out with the bases loaded to end the inning. Bummer. Not the way we wanted to start out the game.
    The first pitch was right at 6:00, with a temperature of 87˚ . With two outs in the first, Jack Purdy hit a ground rule double, barely missing a homer. Ryan followed with a single and Max walked to load the bases. Up came Mercer and the inning ended with no runs scored. Connor Mashman took the mound for the Thunder. The first three batters reached (BB, HBP, E5) before a pop out to Ryan at 3rd for the first out.  A single and a fielder's choice plated two for the Heat. Two more walks and the score was 4-0. Coach Phil made a pitching change and brought in Jack Purdy to finish out the inning. A grounder to third was missed and the Thunder were down 6-0. The inning finally ended with a grounder to SS and the Thunder needed a wake-up call.
     The 2nd inning started with Mashman reaching on an error and promptly stealing second. JJ came to bat and, after a wild pitch that moved Connor to third, walked to put runners on the corners. With one out in the inning, Gaines hit a single to left to get the Thunder on the scoreboard. James and Kenny followed with solid hits that went right to the Heat's gloves.  The bottom of the second started with two quick outs on nice plays by Kenny at short and Noah in center. After a base hit, Jack coaxed a lazy fly to left to end the inning.
    The highlight of the 3rd for the Thunder was a solo home run by Jack Purdy to get the Thunder within 4 runs. The Heat added two more runs in the bottom of the inning with 4 solid singles.

Jack Purdy's 2nd HR of the summer

     Mercer started off the 4th with a booming double that rolled to the wall. Jarrett hit a ball to short and Mercer waited until the SS threw to first and then headed for third. The first baseman tried to gun Mercer out at third and threw the ball over the third baseman's head, allowing Buechner to score the third run for the Thunder. The bottom of the 4th had Mercer on the mound for DHYS. A hit batsman and a walk came home to roost even though the 3rd, 4th and 5th batters had infield grounders. At the end of 4, the score was 10-3 in favor of the Heat.  Jack Purdy added another RBI in the fifth on a single, but the Thunder could not get a rally going. Mercer faced two batters in the bottom half and time was called.

Interesting Stats and Facts:

- Thunder players need to make plays and GET DIRTY!

- Walks and errors are not helping the cause.

- 300 miles logged so far.

So long everybody.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E	L
DHYS Thunder	0	1	1	1	1		4	6	5	7
Hobgood Heat	6	0	2	2	-		10	6	3	6