Newspaper Page Text
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In addition to
providing the
Raiders with
stellar
defense at
shortstop,
Matt Holland
was 2-for-2
offensively
Friday night,
with a double
and an RBI in
North
Forsyth's 8-0
win over
Kennesaw
Mountain.
Photo/David
McGregor
Mixed results for Central
Dawgs stop
Gainesville,
fall in Dawson
By Travis M. Chaffin
Sports Editor
The Forsyth Central Bulldogs
are coming off an up-and-down
week, following Wednesday’s 5-
0 shutout of the Gainesville Red
Elephants in the Ivey-Watson
Tournament with Thursday’s 11-
5 defeat in Dawson County.
“{The win over Gainesville]
was a big boost for our team,’’
said Central head coach Jeff
Reusing.
“Os course, we lived off that
emotion probably a little too
much [heading] into Dawson’s
game.”
On Thursday, Dawson
County scored three runs in the
first, five in the third and three
more in the third as Central's
offense was steady, but not
enough scoring two runs in
the first inning, then one run
per inning in the second
through fourth.
“We had wild pitch after wild
pitch,” Reusing said. "We left
the ball out over the plate and the
wind was blowing out 20 mph,
so it didn’t help our cause any.”
Bulldog starting pitcher Chip
Waits was charged with the loss,
allowing eight runs in 2 1/3
innings pitched. Relief pitcher
Aaron McKevitt allowed three
runs in 3 2/3 innings and closed
out the game with three shutout
innings.
“We didn't have any errors,”
Reusing said. "We just couldn’t
defend the long ball. We didn't
get the ball down, we couldn’t
hit our spots and we didn’t get
ahead of hitters. It just kind of
made it difficult."
Offensively for the Dawgs,
Pat Belt was 3-for-4 with a run
and a stolen base, Brandon
Zimmerman was l-for-2 with a
two walks and two runs. Adam
Knop was 2-for-4 with an RBI
and a stolen base. Chris Dorsey
was 2-for-3 with a homer to lead
off the third inning, Adam
Baldwin was l-for-2 with a run,
and Waits was 1-for-l. Despite
batting 0-3, Tyler Marzofka fin
ished the night with an RBI and
was hit by a pitch.
“Our hitting never showed
and we left a lot of runners in
scoring position," Reusing said.
On Wednesday, however, the
Bulldogs could do no wrong, as
starting pitcher Brent Majors
threw a complete-game shutout,
striking out nine and scattering
four hits over seven innings.
“Unbelievable game. The
guys played about as good as
you could," said Reusing. “The
way they played against
[Gainesville], they probably
could have beaten anybody in
our region that night.
“[Majors] had command of
everything. He just worked
ahead of hitters. It was probably
the best that I’ve seen him pitch
the game went on.” ’
While Majors took care of
business ptithe jnound. the rest,
of the team did their job at the
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Photo/David McGregor
Forsyth Central’s Adam Knop, above, was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base against
Dawson County. Below, Adam Baldwin, seen in a play at the plate, was 1 -for-2 with a run.
plate, registering seven hits on
the night.
In the first inning, catcher
Ryan Steide put Central on the
board when a base hit coupled
with a Red Elephant fielding
error scored Belt and
Marzofka for a 2-0 Bulldog lead.
After drawing a walk in the
second inning, Waits stole sec
ond before making it home on
errors for a 3-0 advantage.
Forsyth Central scored again
in the fourth inning, as Waits’
RBI double scored Knop. Kyle
Kinsey scored later in the inning
on an RBI single by Belt.
Offensively for the Dawgs,
Belt was I-for-3 with a run and
an RBI, Marzofka was l-for-4
with a run, Majors was l-for-4,
Steide was l-for-4 with 2 RBI.
The win gave Central a 3-1
tournament record, placing the
Bulldogs in a three-way tie for
first with Gainesville and
Cartersville. Cartersville beat
Gainesville and lost to Forsyth
Central. Though Central will
play no more games in the tour
nament. other Ivey-Watson
games for this
weekend (results not available at
deadline).
"see MIXED, Page 2C
Sports
■j,.,
y 111 '•* I
Raiders blank Kennesaw Mountain
By Travis M. Chaffin
Sports Editor
The brisk night air couldn’t cool
the hot arm of Mark Doll on Friday.
The North Forsyth senior hurler
struck out 12 Kennesaw Mountain
batters while allowing just three hits
and two walks in six innings of
shutout baseball as the Raiders
improved to 5-0 on the season with
the 8-0 victory.
"That guy pitched great, didn’t
he?" said North Forsyth head coach
Jim Cahill.
“He was. once again, very effi
cient with his pitches. Normally, a
guy who strikes that many out is
going to have a lot of pitches, but he
didn’t really throw that many pitch
es."
Doll (2-0) didn’t just impress the
home fans with his performance on
the pitcher’s mound. A three-run
home run to center field in the sixth
inning put North ahead by seven runs
and erased any hopes Kennesaw
Mountain might have had of mount
ing a comeback.
“Normally, we DH for the pitcher,
but we pulled him out of the game
and 1 wind up looking smart,” said
Cahill, with a smile.
In handing Kennesaw (4-1) its
first loss of the season. North Forsyth
made good use of the long ball
sending three home runs somewhere
into the Coal Mountain woods at
Raider Field.
“I think we've hit as many so far
this year as we hit last year," Cahill
said.
The biggest reason for that, the
Raider coach said is North Forsyth
COMING WEDNESDAY
I>ocal man wins gold
strength coach Jim Bishop and his
team’s tremendous work ethic.
"All these guys workout year
round,” said Cahill. “These guys
worked out today before the game."
Junior Casey Young kick-started
the Raider offense in the second
inning with a solo homer that put
North up 1-0.
“He’s been a pretty big surprise,”
Cahill said. “He worked his way up:
played on the freshman team, played
on the JV. And he really worked hard
in the offseason on his own to get
ready to play.”
In the third inning. Dusty Martin
increased North’s lead to 2-0 after
getting on base with a fielder's
choice.
The Raiders maintained that 2-0
See BLANK, Page 2C
SOCCER
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* Photo/David McGregor
Forsyth Central’s Ryan Whittington (11) had
to be carried off the field with a leg injury
during the Dawgs’ 2-0 victory Friday night.
Bulldog soccer
squads sweep
Tucker on road
By Morgan Lee
Sports Writer
Forsyth Central soccer scored a clean sweep of
region foe Tucker Friday night at Chamblee's
North DeKalb Stadium.
In the opening match, the Lady Dawgs over
came four missing starters and a one-goal deficit to
win 3-1, while, in the nightcap, the Dawgs pre
vailed 2-0 for their first 6-AAAA victory of the
season.
Dawgs blank Tigers
The Forsyth Central Bulldogs scored on either
side of halftime to break their region drought
Friday night against host Tucker, as the Central
defense came up with a strong performance.
The Dawgs (5-2-1 overall. 1-2
in Region 6-AAAA) controlled the
tempo throughout the night in a
combative contest that saw Central
striker Ryan Whittington helped off
after his magnificent second-half
strike had put the game out of
reach.
“It was our first quality win in the region," said
Central head coach Matt Weneta. whose team had
opened the 6-AAAA season with two-straight loss
es.
"We played a midfield-oriented game, and the
defense played well. We played fairly mistake free
and we did make mistakes we recovered well. That
was the biggest difference [between this game and
our first two region games|."
The Bulldogs got off to a rousing start, scoring
just nine minutes into the contest to take a 1-0
lead.
After pressuring the Tigers early. Central’s
Bailey Slijvo outjumped several Tucker defenders
to nod home a long throw-in from Spencer
Williams for the game’s opening strike.
Minutes later, Slijvo nearly extended that lead
hut fired just wide after a nice cross from Jordan
Smith.
Yet Tucker regrouped midway through the first
See SWEEP, Page 2C
c
INSIDE
■ South’s
boys slam
Etowah on
Thursday
night, 2C