The bats came alive for Putnam County last week in an easy rout of region opponent Josey High.
The War Eagles got a solid performance on March 8 from Tanner Lukens at the plate. The junior went 3-for-4 with a team-high three hits, two RBIs, and a pair of runs scored in an 11-1 win.
Putnam County also got a dominant outing on the mound from Wade Johnston. The sophomore arm was near flawless, pitching six shutout innings with a season-high 12 strikeouts and giving up just two hits, one unearned run, and one walk against Josey.
In prior games, War Eagles’ head coach Mike Phiel said his team usually beat itself with mental mistakes, errors, and by giving up free bases on the mound, but that wasn’t the case last Friday.
“We did what we needed to do against a determined Josey team,” Phiel said. “We had a very business-like approach.”
Despite Josey being a lesser opponent, Putnam County corrected its mistakes and played a full game.
“We hadn’t put a complete game together. There have been times we looked good at the plate, hit the ball well, worked the count, and drew walks. When we do that, we don’t pitch well,” Phiel said last week. “Sometimes we’ve pitched well but haven’t hit well. There’s also been times we’ve pitched well but played bad defense. We hadn’t put all three phases together yet. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Phiel’s squad did that against Josey.
Putnam County had only one error in the field, compared to Josey’s four. The team’s pitching staff – comprised only of Johnston against Josey – limited the walks to just one against the Eagles.
The War Eagles also hit well in certain situations with runners in scoring position. They didn’t leave many men on base as Lukens, Wyatt Simms, Mark Winslette, and BJ Ruff also had RBI hits.
The War Eagles had nine of 10 batters reach base with a hit. The only player without a hit got a free path to first base on a walk. They also struck out once as a team against Josey’s pitching staff.
The War Eagles plated two runs in the first inning, with RBI hits from Lukens, scoring Hunter Holder, and a Mark Winslette sacrifice fly to center field bringing around Lukens before the inning ended.
Putnam County added three more runs to its total in the bottom of the third. Holder scored again on a pop-out by Lukens before Jackson Dodd tagged up on another sacrifice fly from Winslette. A single by Branan Griffin put him on base and he scored on a line drive from Simms a few batters later.
Throughout the first three innings, Johnston retired nine of 10 Josey batters, with seven strikeouts. The sophomore gave up one run in the top of the fourth but coasted the next two innings.
Putnam County scored six more runs across the next three innings to reach the 11-1 run-rule final. The War Eagles improved to 3-9 overall and 2-0 in region play with the win over Josey last week.
Putnam County was beating Josey 8-0 in game two before inclement weather arrived, so the two teams will continue that game at a later date.
The War Eagles now prepare for Westside-Augusta (4-6, 2-0) this week. According to Phiel, Westside-Augusta is Putnam County’s biggest threat in Region 4-AA this season.
“(Westside) is traditionally a baseball powerhouse and will be really solid this season,” Phiel said earlier this year. “They return a lot of key guys this season after finishing second in the region last year.”