By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
If Saturday was indeed the last home appearance for the T.R. Miller Tigers senior group, they left it as a good place to reside.
Not only did T.R. Miller wrap up the home portion of the regular season with an 11-7 win over the UMS-Wright Bulldogs, it was the Tigers' fourth straight home win of the week. It also gave T.R. Miller an 8-1 home record for the season and a 21-3 home slate over the last two seasons. The Tigers (14-10) have won nine of their last 12 games overall.
The Tigers, who erased a pair of three-run deficits the night before to beat W.S. Neal in a game that kept their postseason hopes alive, never trailed against UMS-Wright. However, T.R. Miller was able to quickly right the ship after the Bulldogs erased a four-run deficit in the fifth inning to tie the game.
T.R. Miller raced out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Becker Denton stroked a two-run single and later stole home.
A pair of infield errors with a groundout and a wild pitch thrown in between enabled the Bulldogs to get on the board with an unearned run against Tigers starting pitcher Baxley Raines in the top of the fourth.
T.R. Miller answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. Denton singled for the second of his three hits on the day and went to second and third on a pair of wild pitches. Mackie Jackson walked and then teamed up on a successful double steal with Denton. Denton came home on the front end of the play to make it 4-1. One batter later Allen Williams stroked an RBI single that made it 5-1.
Raines cruised through the first four innings with just two hits and no walks allowed, but UMS-Wright got to him for three extra base hits and four runs in the fifth to tie the game.
Arthur Zimmerman started the rally with a solo homerun. Brock Reaves was hit by a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on an double by J.J. Gotleib that narrowed the gap to 5-3. Chase Guttrel followed with another RBI two-bag hit. Jonathan Barton followed with a walk and then Parker Hollingham drilled an RBI single to tie the game at 5-5.
The Tigers quickly got the lead back with a three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth. Seth Holland beat out an infield hit and scored on a double by Raines. Denton followed with his third hit of the game and his second double that scored Raines to make it 7-5. Denton moved over to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jackson that took the lead up to 8-5.
The Tigers put another three-run spot up on the scoreboard in the sixth that swelled the gap to 11-5.
Brice Martin walked and stole second went to third on Kendall Land's single and scored on a wild pitch. Land stole second and scored when Tanner Shehan beat out an infield hit. Holland hit into a fielder's choice, but scored after a wild pitch and Raines' second RBI double.
The extra cushion made things easier for the Tigers to close things out in the seventh.
Reliever James Hamric, who had just taken over for Raines after six innings of work, was greeted by a walk, a single and an RBI single by Hollingham. Chris Carpenter hit an RBI groundout that made it 11-7 and a single by Zimmerman brought the tying run to the on-deck circle. Hamric was able to finish off the win when he struck out Phillip Long.
T.R. Miller will conclude the regular season this week with the annual Escambia County Tournament at Atmore. The Tigers begin play Thursday at 5 p.m. with a game against W.S. Neal. The Tigers will then face Flomaton Friday at 5 p.m. before it wraps up the tournament Saturday with a 1 p.m. game against Escambia County.
At T.R. Miller
UMS-Wright 000 140 2 - 7 10 1
T.R. Miller 300 233 X - 11 10 3