By Powell Cobb and Brandon O’Connor
The Post-Searchlight

Pitcher Will Kelley held the mound for six innings last Friday, racking up eight strikeouts in Bainbridge’s 13-4 win against the Early County Bobcats.

Kelley allowed three hits, no earned runs and no walks.

“I just kept the ball down in the zone,” Kelley said. “I have a good defense behind me. If I just throw strikes, and they hit it, they’ll make the plays behind me.”

Kelley pitched four innings against the Bobcats on Feb. 17.

“That shows us he is coming along with his endurance,” coach Brian McCorkle said. “Anytime you get a starting pitcher that gives you six strong innings is good.”

Bainbridge jumped out of the gate quickly with three runs in the bottom of the first.

The Bearcats piled on three more runs in the bottom of the third. The inning looked promising, as Lyle singled, scoring Caleb Boutwell to kick things off. That was followed up by Bryant’s single, bringing home Clark Wiggins. Bainbridge tacked on another four runs in the fifth. A single by Bryant ignited the offense, scoring Lyle. That was followed up by Kelley’s double, bringing home Cayden McQuaig

“Tonight was the best we have swung it,” McCorkle said. “Just hard, driving the baseball. We still do a good job of running the bases.”

McCorkle also said the Bearcats did a great job of taking advantage of Early County’s defensive errors.

“When they would make one, we would make them pay for it,” he said. “That’s been our MO for the first few games of the year. We just have to keep doing it that way.

The Bearcats continued their hot start on Tuesday night when they defeated Brooks County 11-3. With the win, BHS is now 6-0 on the season.

“I thought we took care on business,” McCorkle said. “We got some timely hits when we needed them. We played good defense, most of the time. We certainly got some things we have to get cleaned up.”

Preston Strickland earned the win on the mound. He went five innings allowing three hits and three run, only one earned, while striking out seven.

“I thought our pitching was outstanding,” McCorkle said. “Preston Strickland did a great job starting and [Perry] Waddell came in and didn’t give up anything at the end.”

The Bearcats scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning after an E9 kept the inning alive. Kelly drove in the first run and Russell Wheeler singled to right to drive in the other two. Their hot hitting continued in the second as they plated three more runs including two more by Kelly when he hit a triple to right.

“Will is a player we depend on heavily,” McCorkle said. “He’s had a slow start to the season, but he’s starting to pick it up and we are getting into region play and that’s going to be important.”

Brooks County mounted a small comeback in the top of the fourth when they scored three runs as the Bearcats committed two errors in the inning.

“We got to clean in up defensively,” McCorkle said. “Continue to put the ball in play and put pressure on the other team with our offense. We’ll clean it up defensively, be a little crisper sharper there and I think we’ll be alright.”

Conner Strickland provided the final RBIs for the Bearcats when he hit a two run homerun to left field in the bottom of the fifth inning. BHS opens region play with a double-header at Dougherty on Wednesday and a home game against Crisp County on Friday.