The Red Level Tigers split games with J. U. Blacksher Friday night losing the first game 12-1, but downed the Bulldogs 7-6 to force game three.

 

J.U. Blacksher 12 Red Level 1

 

Blacksher took an early 4-0 in the top of the second inning of game one off three base hits and two errors by the Tigers.

 

RLHS bounced back in the bottom of the second inning when Jacob Cross drove in Will Windham on a fielder’s choice.

 

Blacksher added three more runs in the in the top of the fourth inning off a double from Andrew Reddit and a triple from Sage Baggett to give the Bulldogs a 7-1 advantage.

 

The Bulldogs offense continued to surge in the top of the fifth when Baggett drove a ball over the left field fence for a grand slam to give the Bulldogs a 12-1 lead.

 

RLHS loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth, but just couldn’t find a hit to plate another run.

 

Red Level 7 J.U. Blacksher 6

 

In game two, the Tigers fell behind early then rallied to send the game in to extra innings, and Jerran Williams worked all nine innings on the hill to knock off the Bulldogs 7-6.

 

Blacksher got on the scoreboard first when Baggett drove in a run off a Tigers’ error in the bottom of the first inning.

 

Blacksher added three runs off a triple by Cooper Dean, and then Dean scored on an error to put the Bulldogs up 5-0 in the second inning.

 

Ethan Jordan led off the top of the third inning by getting hit by a pitch, and then Jack Dorman drew a walk to give the Tigers runner on first and second with one out.

 

Williams stepped in an crushed a pitch over the fence in left field for a three-run home run to put the Tigers right back in the game.

 

Williams begin to settle into a groove, and got through the bottom of the third with no damage done.

 

The Tigers continued to battle back, and closed the gap to one run when Dylan Jordan stole home with two outs.

 

The Bulldogs put runners on second and third with not outs to start the bottom of the fifth, but Williams showed extreme poise on the mound and worked his way out of the jam without allowing a run to score.

 

RLHS tied the game up in the top of the sixth when Hunter Ray Carpenter drove in Kenneth Mancil to knot the game up at 5-5. Ethan Jordan almost scored on the play as well, but was called out at the plate.

 

Williams led off the top of the seventh inning with a scorching line drive to left field.

 

After a single from Dylan Jordan moved Williams to third, the Tigers tried to play a little small ball and Jeffery Perdue dropped down a bunt, but Williams was tagged out sliding into home.

 

Williams continued to dominate on the mound, and retired the Bulldogs in order in the bottom of the seventh.

 

In the top of the ninth, Williams gave the Tigers a 6-5 advantage when he drove in Carpenter with a single, and Windham put the Tigers up 7-5 with a run scoring single.

 

The Bulldogs got a leadoff hit single to start the bottom of the ninth, but Williams got the next batter to hit into a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play. The Bulldogs then got a run scoring double to cut the Tigers’ lead to one, but then a scorching line drive was snagged by the Tigers’ shortstop to give the Tigers a win to force game three.

 

“I’ve been doing this a long time and that was the best effort out of a baseball team that I have ever seen,” RLHS head coach Tony Ingram said. “After that first game, we were a bit nervous and it showed, but these kids just decided that they weren’t going to lose. With that kind of effort, the sky is the limit for this team. I’m proud of every one of these guys. I really don’t have the words to describe their effort. They just refused to lose.”

 

Williams led the way for the Tigers going 3-for-5 at the plate with four RBIs, and was also the winning pitcher throwing just over 140 pitches in nine innings of work.

 

“It was incredible and really intense,” Williams said. “I knew the team had my back, and I couldn’t do it without them. It was a great team win.”

 

Game three will be today at 10 a.m.