Tattnall Square takes down Stratford baseball

The Tattnall Square Trojans got just enough offense early and then added four runs in to seventh to take a 9-4 win over Stratford on Tuesday night.

Senior Cory Bartholomew pitched a complete game for the Trojans (9-3, 3-0 in GHSA Region 7A-A), while Blake Simmons and Garrett Houston both had two hits.

Tattnall got on the board twice in the second, taking advantage of three Stratford errors, and added two more in the fourth when Eagles starter Jackson Pyles lost the plate and hit three batters. But Pyles turned out to be a tough-luck loser, as he struck out nine Tattnall batters and battled into the seventh inning.

Stratford finally got to Bartholomew in the seventh, scoring four times, with the big hit being a two-run double by Trey Giles, but could not get any closer than that as the Eagles dropped to 5-4, 1-2 in region play.

FOUR WHO MATTERED

Bartholomew: The Tattnall ace was lights out for his first six innings, striking out eight and allowing only two runners to reach as far as second base. He still finished the game despite getting roughed up in the final inning.

Austin Marchman: The sophomore had a bases-clearing double in the seventh inning to give Tattnall a comfortable lead.

Houston: He knocked in two runs for Tattnall and had two hits in the game.

Pyles: The senior right-hander struck out nine batters and deserved a better fate, but two unearned runs early put Stratford in a hole they could never climb out of.

TURNING POINT

Pyles retired the first hitter in the second inning, but a dropped fly ball and an infield error, as well as an infield throwing error, gave the Trojans an early lead. Bartholomew, meanwhile, allowed only four baserunners in the first six innings.

WORTH MENTIONING

Battling hard: Pyles did not walk a batter, but he hit five batters and overcame five errors to keep Stratford in the game.

THEY SAID IT

Tattnall head coach Joey Hiller on his team's performance: "We were horrible. I really don't know any other way to put it. We did not play with the edge we have been playing with, and our approach at the plate was not good at all. Jackson Pyles is a very good pitcher, but we have got to do a much better job of putting the ball in play if we are going to be the team I feel we can be. We will look for some answers at practice on Wednesday and hopefully come out and play much better on Thursday."

Stratford head coach Tyler Brown on his team putting four runs on the board in the final inning. "I am proud of the way we battled in the last inning, and hopefully it will give us some confidence at the plate. We have a long way to go to be a good baseball team, but I think we feel like we can play with the Tattnalls of the world."

WHAT'S NEXT?

Tattnall Square and Stratford square off again Thursday at Tattnall Square.

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Tattnall Square takes down Stratford baseball ."