Dunwoody baseball propelled by hitting

The Dunwoody baseball team capped off another week of strong play, finishing last week with a 10-5 record and 7-1 in region play.

The Wildcat baseball team’s week started Monday with an away game at Tucker High School. Dunwoody continued with a trend that is becoming a calling card for the team: hot bats.

Dunwoody would beat Tucker 11-0.

In the first inning, the offense started with Jerric Johnson reaching base on an error. Charlie Madden then registered a double. Jared Martin walked to load the bases. Two sacrifice fly balls scored two runners, and an error by Tucker scored another runner. Back to back singles by the Wildcats scored two more runs and Dunwoody exited the top of the 1st inning leading 5-0.

Starting pitcher James Farnell took Tucker down in order in the bottom of the 1st inning.

Dunwoody’s bats would come alive again in the top of the 2nd inning. Charlie Madden hit another double. James Farnell hit a single up the middle, and Dunwoody scored two more runs before the inning was over.

Dunwoody’s pitcher James Farnell had a no-hitter going until the 4th inning, but it ended there. Tucker registered three singles in the inning, but no one would score.

The Wildcats scored three runs in the 6th inning, which would force a win by rule if Dunwoody could hold Tucker scoreless. Reliever Devin Borg did hold Tucker scoreless, striking out two and getting an out off of a ground ball.

Dunwoody faced Lakeside High School on Wednesday at home. Strong pitching and hitting led to another Wildcat victory of 8-0.

Dunwoody’s offense again stepped up quickly, and the team scored three runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. In the top of the 3rd inning, Lakeside threatened when Sam Brennan reached second base on an error with no outs. Dunwoody’s James Cunningham eliminated the next three batters.

In the bottom of the 4th inning, Lakeside walked in two runners to push the final score to 8-0.

Dunwoody faced Redan on Thursday. Both teams were challenging for sole possession of first-place in Region 6-AAAA, as both teams have one loss in regional play. It would end well for Dunwoody, which went on to register a victory of 4-0.

Dunwoody scored all four runs in the 1st inning. Charlie Madden started off with a double and then scored off a double by Jared Martin. Chris Hale and James Farnell both reached base on errors and later scored to make it 4-0.

Junior pitcher Ryan Gaines pitched the entire game and shut down Redan. Redan advanced only one base runner as far as second base in the game. Gaines allowed four hits, no walks, no runs and one strikeout.

Dunwoody ended the week in the top spot in the Region.

Dunwoody baseball is playing this week in Florida against tough competition in a spring break tournament.