Long ball carries Malone to district title

By SHELIA MADER
Published: April 26, 2008

The Malone Tigers baseball team used the long ball Thursday night to claim the district championship at the expense of the Graceville Tigers.

The two teams forced an eighth inning game before Malone took a 7-6 win to capture the championship in Poplar Springs.

Derek Orshall picked up the win, going all eight innings, giving up six runs, only two earned, on ten hits, and striking out six. Orshall issued no walks on the night.

Lee Steverson started on the mound for the Graceville Tigers, going 2 1/13 innings before giving way to Burdeshaw who completed the game.

Graceville jumped out to a four-run first inning lead, taking advantage of three costly Malone errors.

Malone would counter with only one run in the first inning. Graceville and Malone were three up, three down in the second inning with Orshall shutting out the Graceville Tiger offense again in the third. Malone answered with three runs in the bottom of the third to tie the game at four.

The Graceville Tigers added a run in the fourth to go up by one. At the end of five, it was again a tie game at five. With the game tied at six, Kevin Warren made a diving catch to rob Graceville of the go-ahead run and force the game into extra innings.

In the top of the eighth inning, with one out, Justin Bryan hit what would be the game-winning run, a solo shot over the centerfield fence. Justin Miles fell short of being the hero for Graceville when his two-out shot to right field was caught at the fence.

Graceville was led in offense by Burdeshaw who was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, followed by Gainer who was 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and two RBIs. Carver was on the board, going 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Gainer had a 2-for-4 night with a run scored and two RBIs while Nick Dietrich was 2-for-4.

Malone’s offense was led by Bryan who was 2-for-5 with a two-run homerun, two RBIs and two runs scored, followed by Kevin Warren, 2-for-4 with an RBI, an inside-the-park homerun and two runs scored. Trevor Blackburn was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, two runs scored, one on a shot over the opposite field and Aaron Calloway who was 1-for-3 with a run scored.

The loss sends Graceville on the road to Paxton as district runners-up on Tuesday while Malone will host Laurel Hill Tuesday at 7 p.m.