Red Bay sweeps Tremont, remains undefeated

By Staff
Mike Self FCT Sports Editor
Morgan Stanfield's two-run homer highlighted an 11-run first inning for Red Bay on Monday as the Tigers romped past Tremont (MS) 19-0 in the first game of a doubleheader.
Derrick Miller struck out six in four solid innings in game two as Red Bay finished off the sweep with a 12-6 win.
The Tigers improved to 5-0, surpassing last year's win total (four) for the entire season.
"We're a young team, but so far we've been playing against young teams," Red Bay coach Donnie Hastings said. "Hopefully winning these games early will help our confidence down the road."
Four of Red Bay's first five batters were hit by a pitch to start the opener, keying the 11-run outburst.
Cody Armstrong had an RBI double in the inning, and Miller drove in two runs with a single. Nicholas Taylor had an RBI single, and Stanfield hit his first home run of the year.
The Tigers added five runs in the second inning and three more in the third.
Armstrong (2-0) earned the win, striking out four and allowing just one hit in two innings. Taylor pitched the final two innings, also striking out four and allowing one hit.
Taylor finished 2-for-2, and Miller, Sammy Thigpen, Stanfield, Armstrong and Brandon Brown each added one hit.
"I think [Tremont] suffered a little bit of a letdown when their pitcher hit four of the first five batters, because he's normally a pretty good pitcher," Hastings said. "He would get two strikes on one of our guys and then hit him. They came back out fired up for the second game, though, and they played much better. They made some good defensive plays."
After Red Bay scored four runs in the top of the first to start game two, Tremont answered with two runs in the bottom half against Miller. The sophomore righthander settled down thereafter, allowing just one run over his final three innings.
Miller allowed just one hit.
"Derrick played his 8th-grade year on our junior high team, but then he missed last season because he was hurt," Hastings said. "He hasn't had much pitching experience, but I thought he threw pretty good today. We just need to work on his mechanics and that sort of thing.
"I don't know how good our pitching is going to be, but the biggest thing so far is that our guys are throwing strikes."
Brown led the Tigers at the plate in game two, going 1-for-1 with three walks and four runs scored. Stanfield was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, and Thigpen added a single and an RBI.
Nathan Hopkins was 1-for-3, and Armstrong scored three runs.
Red Bay was scheduled to play at Belgreen on Tuesday.