Perry Mercy Ruled 10-0 Wednesday in Series Loss to West Laurens 3-0
Raiders swept Perry in region series after a 15-0 mercy rule in the fifth inning of game three Wednesday after two commanding wins.
By BAYLOR GARRETT, Dreamer Journalism
8 April 2023
DEXTER, Ga. — The West Laurens Raiders toppled The Perry Panthers in a 3-0 sweep in a fight for the top of the region Wednesday. The final match of the series ended in a 10-0 shutout by West Laurens with a mercy rule in the 5th inning.
Both teams came into the series undefeated in region play, but the nine-game win streak, now 12, Raiders ended up coming out as the last team in the region with no losses.
Raiders Coach Carter said that the Raiders have played all season with the mindset of competing regardless of who they play against.
“We ask our guys each practice and each game to compete 1 pitch at a time, 1 play at a time, and 1 at bat at a time, and we believe if we do that, we will have a good chance of winning regardless of who we play.”
The first game of the series was a home win for The Raiders 5-3 with five innings of pitching from Matthew Thigpen and two from Tucker Brown to close the game strong.
Perry fought back in the second game at home but fell short at 2-3. West Laurens starting pitcher Camden Thomas had the outing of his career and was dominant in all seven innings with 61 pitches through five innings and 89 pitches overall.
The Raiders won the game with all three runs off of just three hits, 2 RBIs by Jayden Todd and Tucker Brown, and one run each for William Kellam, Ian Anderson, and Kaden Baggett.
The series was closed by a final match at home for the Raiders and one last chance for Perry to get a game in and battle for first place in region.
The final game between the two region rivals in the series and for the season began with two runs for the Raiders followed by a scoreless inning between both teams. The Raiders then scored four runs in the third and then added one more in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The fifth inning is when things got interesting. The Panthers are up to bat in the top of the fifth and have a final shot to fight against the 7-0 Raider lead. West Laurens pitcher Kaden Baggett fights through striking out one, and the rest of the raider defense cleans up two more outs allowing no hits.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Raiders come in strong, ready to close the match and series, but Perry still hasn’t given up. The Panthers begin the inning with a strong defensive play as second baseman Connor Griffin makes a throw to first baseman Cooper Edwards for the first out of the inning.
The Raiders fight back with a single by Camden Thomas. Matthew Thigpen steps up to bat and takes a strike and three balls. Off of one of those balls, a wild pitch by O’rear, Thomas advances to second base, and the next pitch is one to the helmet of Thigpen as he is walked.
The Panthers make a ground out play, holding the Raiders to seven with two outs, but shortly after Parker Bryant singles a hard ground ball bringing in Thomas and Thigpen making the score 9-0 for the Raiders, only one run away from a mercy rule win.
After William Kellam is walked, two men are on first and second, then Perry’s Nate Walker steps in for Nathon O’Rear as Kaden Baggett gets ready to hit for the Raiders. First, Walker throws a ball, then Baggett swings twice for strikes. Walker then throws a wild pitch with runners each advancing a base. Then, the last pitch of the game is thrown.
Bang. Baggett hits a groundball that zooms past Walker sending Kellam home and closing the match and series with a 10-0 mercy rule win in the fifth inning.
Lane Smith and Nathon O’Rear each pitched two innings in the final game for the Panthers and combined for 130 pitches, nine strikeouts, and 10 earned runs off of 11 hits. West Laurens’ pitching consisted of 81 pitches and 49 strikes by Kaden Baggett. Baggett allowed three hits out of 19 batters faced.
Post-game, Carter had a couple of words about his batters in the series.
“We also had some timely hitting from guys up and down our lineup. Matthew Thigpen had four RBI's for us in the series; Parker Bryant had six hits over three games with three RBI's. Guys from one to nine did great jobs of working counts and getting on base.” Carter Said. “Getting pitch counts up was a key for our guys, as they saw one more pitch many at bats.”
Carter also had a few words about his team going into the final eight games of the season. He strongly believes in his team and says that their overall unity is the reason for their success.
“For the remainder of the season we will be the best version of ourselves both on and off the field. We believe when we strive to be better people through Christ Jesus, love God and love others, there is no way we can’t become a better version of ourselves.” Carter said. “We will continue to push these young men and they will continue to push and encourage one another.”
Perry falls to 18-16 overall; 9-3 in region play as West Laurens improves to 18-3 overall; 11-0 in region play.
The Panthers play away next in region series against Griffin next Wednesday and the Raiders will begin a region series away against Westside in a double-header on Monday.
