Hillcrest-Evergreen scores 6 unearned, beats Bulldogs 6-3

Andalusia baseball coach Tyler Dent couldn’t figure out why his players didn’t play well Thursday night.

The Bulldogs committed eight errors in the field and Hillcrest-Evergreen walked away with a 6-3 area victory at AHS.

“We got outplayed, bottom line,” Dent said. “We got outplayed.”

HHS scored two runs in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead and went on to add one run each in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

All of the Jaguars’ runs were unearned.

Andalusia got out of an early jam in the first inning and played a solid second, behind starting pitcher Ross Graham. However, the errors started in the third with two outs.

Jaguars shortstop Trae Lewis then scored on a missed catch out in right, and Mike Bradley found home on an error at shortstop.

Hillcrest, coached by Andalusia resident John Dugger, tacked on its third run on the Bulldogs’ fourth error in the fourth inning.

Jaguar first baseman Brandon Fair scored in the fifth on a wild pitch after reaching on an error. Lewis scored in the sixth inning on an error after hitting a single to right.

Andalusia managed to get on the board when Daniel Henderson — who reached on an error — scored on a Devin McDuffie RBI ground out.

The Bulldogs then cut it to two after Quinton Maddox turned on a two-run home run that went approximately 330 feet.

Hillcrest’s Mydarius Trujillo scored in the top of the seventh on an overthrow to third.

Graham struck out three in four innings and allowed seven hits while striking out three to get the loss.

Lewis went 4-for-5 with two runs; Fair went 2-for-4 with one run; and Johnny Hart went 1-for-4 to lead the Jaguars.

Other than Maddox, Andalusia’s Brandon Smith, Grayson Campbell, Jud Rogers and Graham had one hit each.

Dugger said he was proud of how his kids played.

“We played a very good baseball team,” Dugger said. “I feel like we were lucky to win, quite truthfully. Coach Dent does a great job and they have good athletes. We had some runs that just kind of fell.”

Dugger admitted that it was a little “weird” to coach a team to a win against his hometown high school team.

“I love Andalusia,” he said. “My daughter (Ingram) goes to Andalusia. I love these (the high school players) kids, too, because they played with a lot of heart.”

Hart threw a complete game and allowed three earned runs on four hits. He walked none.

Dent didn’t have an answer as to the Bulldogs’ measure of play.

“I wish I could find that out,” Dent said. “If I can find that out, my job would be a lot easier.”

Andalusia has a chance to win this area series today as it visits HHS for a doubleheader. The Bulldogs (9-7, 0-1 in Class 4A, Area 2) must win today’s games to get out to a good start in area action.a