Wednesday’s action- Perry Junior League vs. Baldwin County

When Perry Junior League and Baldwin County collided for the first time in District 3 play on Wednesday at Simpson Park, it was a battle of unbeatens. Perry’s 12 & under All-Stars shut out both Crawford County and Greene County over last weekend, earned a bye on Monday, but had to wait to Wednesday to return to play as Tuesday’s contests were rained out.

Baldwin County, winners over Taylor County and Jones County, reaped the benefit of home-team advantage by defeating Perry Junior League in a tightly-played contest that went seven innings. Baldwin’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the seventh doubled and came home on a bunt giving the Milledgeville-based squad the win 6-5.

Perry All-Stars scored four runs in the second inning and tacked on one more in the fourth. The Baldwin pitching, however, shut down the bats for three innings while its offense chipped away enough to forge a regulation tie at 5-5.

Baldwin in fact held Perry Junior League scoreless in the first inning while scoring two times in the bottom half. Much like in the walk-off inning, there was only one hit in this initial turn, but also an error, a walk and two stolen bases.

Being down 2-0 sparked Perry in a big way come the top of the second, for Jeb Walls belted a two-run home run tying the score. With one out, Tristan Freis doubled down the right-field line, Tyler Newhouse reached on an error and a walk loaded the bases. Caid Heath’s walk broke the tie, and with two outs Ethan Bearden was hit by a pitch to make it a 4-2 lead.

Jackson Mullis shook off his rough first inning to strike out two in a scoreless second. He only pitched two innings, and his total in whiffs was four. Walls gave his side a scoreless third inning, and he led off the top of the fourth with a single.

As Walls stood on second base with one out, Bearden rolled the ball to the wall, giving him an RBI double. Perry bid for two runs on the play, but Baldwin executed out No. 2 at the plate.

So the score stood at 5-2 for PJL as Bearden took his turn on the green pitching mound. Baldwin filled all the bases against him, but Bearden beared down to strike out two in a row and preserve the three-run advantage.

From a hitting standpoint, Perry had just two more the rest of the game, those coming from Grant Norris and Ryan Powers. They actually loaded the bases themselves in the top of the fifth, all with two outs, when Norris singled and two more reached from an error and walk. Baldwin escaped that jam and proceeded to rally for a 5-5 tie in the bottom half.

Again, Baldwin didn’t do much hitting – one single to put runners at second and third with one out – but scored from two wild pitches and and a two-out passed ball. Jonah Wynn got the Perry team out of the inning with two Baldwin runners stranded on base.

Baldwin staged a serious walk-off bid in the bottom of the sixth, this frame starting with a double and a walk. Nolan Nauss was called in from the infield to the mound. His first batter hit the ball to the shortstop Newhouse, who fired over to Wynn – replacing Nauss at third base – to get that key first out. Nauss fired a called strike three, then Powers caught the last out in right field.

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