Oak Mountain takes pair of wins over Shelby County, Haralson County over weekend

Published 10:28 am Tuesday, February 27, 2024

By Andrew Simonson

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Oak Mountain Eagles extended their win streak to five games in a row with victories over the Shelby County Wildcats on Friday, Feb. 23 at home and the Haralson County Rebels on Saturday, Feb. 24.

While the unbeaten run ended with their final game of the weekend against Athens, the Eagles took their record to 6-2 ahead of a busy four-game week.

Oak Mountain kicked off the weekend with a battle against Shelby County, which entered the county battle undefeated.

The Wildcats struck first in the top of the second when Cale Blevins hit a two-out RBI single to take a 1-0 lead.

The Eagles equalized in the bottom of the frame thanks to an RBI groundout by Kevin Jasinski.

The score remained tied until the bottom of the fourth. That was when Oak Mountain took advantage of a pair of singles and a walk to do damage with the bases loaded.

Kaleb Hester used a Jasinski fly out to take the lead after tagging up. On the next play, Will O’Dell hit an RBI single to left field to plate a pair of runs and take a 4-1 lead.

The Eagles had another three-run frame in the next inning. Nick McCord started the scoring by crossing home off a wild pitch, and that was followed by an error after Hester hit a single that let Peyton Parkinson score as well.

Hester then scored his second run of the night after Reed Hartsfield hit a fly out, and that finished off the scoring in the 7-1 victory.

Bryson Mormon dominated in the win with eight strikeouts in six innings while earning the victory. He surrendered just one earned run and two hits.

Zach Fitzgerald picked up the save after allowing just one hit in the seventh inning and securing strikeouts in two of the three batters he faced.

The Eagles used that success to fuel a dominant 13-1 win over Haralson County a day later.

Oak Mountain opened the scoring after McCord capitalized on an error to score a few pitches after hitting a leadoff double.

It extended the lead in the top of the third off back-to-back RBI singles by Parkinson and Hester to make the score 3-0.

The Rebels answered in the bottom of the frame with an RBI groundout to cut the lead to two, but a big fourth inning helped Oak Mountain pull away.

Alex Harrison hit an RBI single with two on and one out to resume the scoring, and Haralson County allowed another run to score after hitting O’Dell with a pitch after loading up the bases.

Two more runs scored as a result of Parkinson reaching off an error, and the Eagles ended the inning with a 7-1 lead.

The eighth run crossed home plate thanks to a Jasinski RBI double that scored Noah Eady.

Oak Mountain did more damage in the top of the seventh even with the game in hand. With the bases loaded and one out, Brooks Braswell was hit by a pitch to make the score 9-1.

Gabe Jones cleared the base paths on the next play with a three-run double. He came home two batters later thanks to a Fitzgerald double to finish off the 12-run victory.

The Eagles will look to bounce back from their 6-1 loss to Athens against the Northridge Jaguars at home on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 5 p.m.

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