INMAN, S.C. – It was the start of a home-and-home series Monday night as the Boiling Springs Bulldogs and Chapman Panthers clashed on the baseball diamond.
A big game from Justin Dawkins proved to be the catalyst and propelled the Bulldogs to a 9-5 victory over Chapman in eight innings. The Bulldogs drew first blood in the first inning as Kai Lee sprinted home on a double steal, which saw Titus Hutchins advance to second on the play. Two batters later, Hutchins scored on a Dawkins RBI single to left for a two-run lead. Chapman cut the deficit in half, 2-1, when Cole Daughterty singled, stole second, and later scored on a Bulldog error. “It was two good teams (battling),” said Boiling Springs head coach Jeff Lipscomb. “Chapman is always good, and they’re coached well, as always. We were fortunate tonight and found a way to win. We’re proud to come out of here with a victory.” Hank Tolleson drew a walk to open the Panthers’ half of the third inning and scored on a Lewis McAlister RBI base knock to center. A couple of moments later, Bryson Cothran scored from third on an error and gave Chapman a 3-2 lead. Dawkins led off the fourth inning with a single and later crossed home plate on an Emory Horton RBI base hit, tying the game at three runs apiece. A Hank Tolleson double and Kole Brown triple to left in the fifth broke the deadlock and put the Panthers ahead by a 4-3 tally. Dawkins scored the next two runs for Boiling Springs on a Kyle Patterson RBI fielders’ choice in the sixth and JD Moore RBI hit in the seventh, respectively, that gave the Bulldogs a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the frame, a McAlister single to center scored Tolleson from second and sent the game to an extra frame, tied at five. “We’re proud of our guys for what we did on offense tonight,” Chapman head coach J.D. Goodwin stated. “(Boiling Springs) is a great team and they are close by. We play a lot of the ‘big boys’ to help us prepare for the playoffs. We don’t want to be surprised and see arms or teams that sneak up on us in the playoffs. We’ll go over (to Boiling Springs) on Wednesday, we’ll battle, and will try to make amends for tonight.” Boiling Springs reclaimed the lead in the eighth when back-to-back RBI singles by Landon Stevens and Lee plated three runs. A two-out triple to right by Dawkins plated Hutchins and provided the final margin of 9-5. “He deserves it,” Lipscomb exclaimed about Dawkins’ showing at the plate. “The boy works his tail off. Sometimes he has bad luck, but that’s the nature of the game. He has struggled with the breaking stuff, but he’s learning to lay off it and work the count to where he can get a fastball. When he gets fastballs, they jump off his bat. He’s got some very quick hands… it’s good to see something good happen for him.” Dawkins led Boiling Springs, going 4-for-4 with a triple, two RBI, and three runs scored. Moore was 2-for-3 with a double, run scored, and RBI, while Lee went 2-for-5 (run scored, RBI). Noah Ezell picked up the win for the Bulldogs, throwing one and two-thirds scoreless innings in relief, allowing only two hits and a walk. For Chapman, Daughterty was 2-for-4 with a run scored while McAlister also went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Tolleson was 1-for-3 with two runs scored, while Brown went 1-for-3 with a triple and RBI. Boiling Springs (9-3) will host Chapman (9-4) on Wednesday at Bulldog Park, slated for a 6:30 PM start. Comments are closed.
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