Heat Too Much For Thunder

  
      After a great game against Winston, the Thunder looked to cool of the Hobgood Heat and advance to the Lake City Classic final.  For the first time in the tournament, the Thunder were the visiting team and batted first.  Hobgood took the field and the first pitch was thrown at 6:00 sharp. The temperature had inched up to 89˚ .  The Thunder could not get anything going in the first, despite a booming double by Jack Purdy to left center.  In the bottom of the first, the wheels came off for the Thunder. With Jack on the mound,two fielding errors and an infield hit loaded the bases with no outs. A walk pushed across a run for the Heat, followed by a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0. Another walk and a single, and the score ran up to 4-0. The inning ended with the mercy rule invoked as the Heat scored on a bunt single and the Thunder were again down 5-0.
     The boys from Druid Hills were shut down in the top of the second and despite a walk and an error, Jack held the Heat to one run. After 2 innings the score was 6-0.  In the third, the Thunder bats woke up. With one out Kenny was robbed of a base hit on a line to short. Noah followed with a solid single and Jack drew a walk. Max drove them both in with a double and the Thunder were on the board and it was 6-2. The Heat were pushed across one run in the bottom of the third on a couple of bloop hits and the score stood at 7-2.
     In the 4th and last inning, the Thunder put together some hits and Connor, James and Noah collected RBI's to pull within one run of the Heat.  That was all the Thunder could muster and with time running out (I know, baseball is not supposed to have a clock), the Heat took pitch after pitch and drew three walks and pushed across 4 more runs to secure the win.  The game was over and the boys were down, but the Lake City Classic was a great experience for all.

Interesting Stats:
-Jack Purdy led the team in batting average - .462
-Pinch-hitter James Huey had a slugging percentage of 1.000 with 4 RBI's in 3AB
-Noah and Jarrett each had 3 stolen bases to lead the team
-Ben Thilo drew 5 walks in the tournament
-Ryan Murray led the team with 7 RBI's
- Kenny Andrews had a .750 avg. with runners in scoring postition
-Team leaders in ERA over 7- Mercer 2.0, Connor 2.25
- Great time had by Thunder parents
-228 miles logged for Lake City Classic


So long everybody.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E	L
DHYS Thunder	0	0	2	4			6	5	3	5
Hobgood Heat	5	1	1	4			11	8	1	4

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