WARNER ROBINS -- A welcome breeze blew through Little League Southeast Park on Friday, offering assistance to balls hit toward right field.
Jake Fromm’s fourth-inning drive, however, didn’t need any help.
Georgia’s shortstop hammered a 1-2 pitch from Tennessee’s Dalton Hall, sending the ball well beyond the field’s secondary fence and sparking Georgia to a 7-3 win in the pool play opener for both teams at the Little League Southeastern Region tournament.
“He was dottin’ around the zone,” Fromm said. “I was just looking for something I could hit, and that was the pitch.”
Georgia, represented by Warner Robins American Little League, is scheduled to play Alabama at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Tennessee looks to regroup when it takes on North Carolina at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Fromm’s homer, a three-run blast, came with two out and staked Georgia to a 5-1 lead. It also eased some mounting tension in the team’s dugout.
“We started playing more loose and started having fun,” Fromm said.
Georgia suffered understandable jitters while playing before a partisan crowd that numbered some 2,500. The team from Warner Robins committed five errors. And with the exception of Fromm’s homer, Georgia batters went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
“I don’t think we made five errors through all of district and state play combined,” Georgia manager Philip Johnson said. “That’s the tightest I’ve even seen them. The crowd was so big it was like UGA down there by the dugout sometimes.”
Still, Georgia managed to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. With one out, catcher Jordan Hampton singled off Tennessee starter Heath Pentecost. Georgia center fielder Austin Burnette then lined a triple to the gap in right center to score Hampton.
In the bottom of the third, Tennessee tied the score in similar fashion. Nelson Smith reached base on an error. He then scored when Terron Smith tripled to left field. Smith appeared to score the go-ahead run moments later on a groundout down the third-base line. However, the home plate umpire ruled the ball foul. Georgia pitcher Logan Arnett then recorded three straight strikeouts.
“Logan Arnett did an outstanding job,” Johnson said. “He showed pinpoint accuracy with where he was placing the ball.”
Arnett, who relieved Fromm after the Georgia starter recorded 20 pitches, struck out five in 2-2/3 innings. He was at his best in game situations. Arnett retired each of the nine Tennessee hitters he faced with runners in scoring position.
Georgia used four pitchers, but only Arnett is ineligible to pitch on Saturday because of pitch count rules. Pentecost and Hall cannot pitch Saturday for Tennessee.
A pair of insurance runs were added by Georgia in the fifth inning. Chase Waller of Tennessee hit a two-run home run for Tennessee in the bottom of the fifth to close out the scoring.
Georgia catcher Joshua Goodman injured a finger on his glove hand when he was called for interference. According to Goodman’s father, Mark Goodman, the finger is not broken but is bruised and will need three days of rest.
Telegraph writer Angela Woolen contributed to this report.
