Whether it was defense or offense, the Reeltown baseball team got it done against Dadeville on Monday.
The Rebels came away with a 12-2 victory, which saw the game end just after the fifth inning. JaMarkius Smith had a solid day in the batter's box, nailing two hits in his three at-bats including one double. Brody Smith, Branton Spraggings and Xander Johnston all logged a hit while finishing the game with two RBIs a piece.
Reeltown soared into the lead quickly, up as much as six runs by the end of the second inning. Pitcher Hagan Lewis, who was limited to just 60 pitches, made quick work of the Dadeville batters he faced. Through three innings, Lewis struck out six batters only allowing four hits and one run in the process.
“(Hagan’s) got a lot of experience, he's a senior,” Reeltown coach Matt Johnson said. “He's been a really good ball player in this program for a long time, so you expect that out of him, and he came out and battled and put us in position to really get a comfortable lead.”
Johnson knows how impactful it is to get out to a strong lead early, especially at the beginning of the season. It gives Reeltown the opportunity to rest some of their arms on the mound like Lewis while allowing other pitchers like Spraggins to get reps in the process.
“Early in the year that's huge because we are on pitch counts,” Johnson said. “To be able to do that and put some other guys in some different spots and rest some arms, that's huge. But, we were fortunate to be able to do that, ran the base as well, and had timely hits. We executed some hit-and-runs and some first and third. So I was really proud of that too.”
Going forward it’s going to be paramount for Reeltown to take advantage of whatever rest it can get with its pitchers. Through this part of the season, Johnson is scouting to see what other contributor he can put on the mound to keep arms fresh at all times.
“Well, at this point, still early, second week of us playing, the main thing is, really take care of our arms, compete, find some depth on the bump as far as arms go,” Johnson said. “Keep some guys healthy and all the way down through the stretch so I think we continue to do that. Branton showed us that tonight. Continue to work and find some depth in that position.”