Baseball season comes to a close for the Piedmont Bulldogs this afternoon with a home doubleheader against Spring Garden and Ragland. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play The Panthers at 2 p.m. and the Purple Devils at 6 p.m. Spring Garden and Ragland play each other in the 4 p.m. game.Last Monday’s game against 2A, Area 12 foe Sand Rock was moved from Piedmont to Sand Rock during the day because of wet grounds at Piedmont. Sand Rock pitcher Justin Mackey limited the Bulldogs to three hits, singles by Shaughn Rankin, Wesley Minton and Chase Childers, and the Wildcats won 3-1.
Piedmont scored its run in the third inning. Childers singled. He advanced to second base on an errant pickoff throw and moved to third on a ground out. Derek McElroy followed with a sacrifice fly, tying the game momentarily at 1-1. Sand Rock added unearned runs in the fourth and sixth innings.
Kirk Pope pitched for Piedmont and allowed one earned run on eight hits. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.
In Tuesday’s game at Piedmont, the Bulldogs pounded out 13 hits and rallied to defeat Sand Rock 6-5. Piedmont took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. McElroy opened with a single, stole second and scored on a two-out double by Seth Reedy.
Piedmont starter Elliott Reedy retired the first 10 batters he faced but with one out in the fourth Sand Rock strung together four of its six hits and scored three times.
Seth Reedy then led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run, cutting Sand Rock’s advantage to 3-2.
Sand Rock scored an unearned run in the fifth against reliever Kyle Glover. Pope opened the bottom of the sixth with a homer. The Bulldogs added three more runs to take a 6-4 lead. Daniel Hammett followed Pope’s home run with a single. With one out, Darrius Jackson reached on an error. McElroy smacked a two-run double to put Piedmont ahead for good at 5-4. Childers’ single scored McElroy with Piedmont’s sixth run.
In relief, Glover was the winning pitcher. In three innings, he struck out four, gave up three hits, didn’t issue a walk and did not allow an earned run. In his four innings, Reedy allowed four hits and one walk. He fanned six.
Six Bulldogs had two hits each. Seth Reedy led with a home run and a double. McElroy had a double and a single. Childers, Glover, Pope and Hammett each had a pair of base hits. McElroy was stellar on the mound and at the plate Wednesday as Piedmont captured a 6-3 home victory over Glencoe. McElroy went the distance in the seven-inning game. He spaced seven hits and one walk.
Glencoe took a 2-0 lead in the first. McElroy led off the Piedmont first with a single, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when Glover singled.
In the bottom of the second, after the Yellow Jackets scored an unearned run, Hammett walked with one away. After a fly ball out, McElroy belted a two-out, two-run homer.
Rankin’s two-run single in the fifth inning broke the deadlock. Seth Reedy, who walked, and Pope, on base with a double, scored. Piedmont added an insurance run in the sixth. Corey Sears reached on an error then moved to second on a ground out. With two out, Glover was safe on another error and Sears scored. McElroy was the only Bulldog with two hits. Piedmont improved to 13-9.
