Walk-off win for Blue Devils in scrimmage

Becky Taylor, The Tifton Gazette, Ga.
·1 min read

Feb. 12—TIFTON — Ryan Mercer had a walk-off hit and Tift County won its baseball scrimmage over Perry Thursday, 2-1.

Tift head coach Kyle Kirk said the offense was a little rusty. That might can be understood considering the Blue Devils haven't played another team since mid-March 2020. More precisely, "316 days," said Kirk.

"A little bit of excitement, a little bit of nerves," he said.

Perry led 1-0 before Tift came back.

Tyler Holmes got the Devils going on a base hit in the sixth inning, Kirk said. He called for Allen Moretz to lay down a bunt to advance Holmes, but after two quick strikes, Moretz pulled the bat back, and came up with a huge hit to tie the game.

"I guess he was telling me 'I don't need to bunt so much, Coach,'" Kirk said, laughing.

Cody Williamson had the first hit of the night.

Kirk said his pitchers "showed a lot of grit" in the victory. "We pitched out of jams in probably five of the seven innings." Getting ahead in the count is something he'd like to see more consistently from his hurlers.

Bryce Stephens started on the mound. Six more pitchers followed, one per inning.

"We wanted to get some guys some word," he said. "We know we have a long week ahead of us."

The week starts Tuesday, when the Devils open the regular season against Berrien at 5:55 p.m. at Devil Diamond. Wednesday, they host Hillgrove at 5:30 p.m. Two more games will be in Tifton later in the week. Friday, it's Denmark at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday has Eastside of Covington in at 3 p.m.