BY CLIFF SMELLEY
A five-run seventh inning by visiting Lanier County (Georgia) resulted in a 7-4 loss for the Union County High School baseball team on Feb. 23.
Lanier hit two two-run singles in the final inning, which also consisted of three walks, an error and a hit batter with the bases loaded.
Despite the loss, the Tigers (1-2) hit seven extra-base hits, including Devin Diggs’ two-run homer that tied the score at 2-2 in the fourth.
Ayden Androlevich and Trenton Klein each went 2 for 3 with a double. Riggs Davs, Erick Lasseter, Foster Smith and Kacen Thomassen each hit a double.
Thomassen, who started on the mound, gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits and one walk through four innings. He had four strikeouts.
Union opened the season with a 10-2 loss at Baker County on Feb. 20.
The Tigers had no hits, but took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when Jake Walker reached on an error and scored on another error.
Baker tied the score in the bottom of the fifth and then scored eight runs off seven hits in the sixth inning.
Starting pitcher Diggs threw three innings, allowing no hits and striking out five.
Union entered the Lanier game off an 8-7 win over visiting West Nassau on Feb. 22. Diggs’ solo home run off a 2-0 pitch in the fifth proved to be the difference.
Diggs finished 2 for 3 with two RBI.
Preston Bonsall, who went 2 for 4, hit a two-run single as part of a four-run second inning, which also featured an RBI single by Klein.
Lasseter and Smith each had one RBI.
Klein earned the win, giving up one unearned run through the final 3.1 innings. He gave up three hits and no walks.
Union travels to play Suwannee on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. and will travel to play Oakleaf on Thursday, Feb. 29, at 7 p.m. The Tigers then travel to play Baldwin on Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m.
