Bulldogs Sweep Red Devils

The Wheeler County High School Bulldogs baseball team secured a pair of crucial Region victories last week, taking down the Hawkinsville Red Devils in back-to-back games. The Bulldogs protected their home turf on Tuesday before traveling to Hawkinsville on Friday to win a highscoring offensive battle.

Game 1

In Tuesday's home opener, Hawkinsville grabbed an early lead by driving in two runs in the top of the first inning. Wheeler immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning with a run to tighten the score to 2-1.

The Bulldogs' bats came alive in the bottom of the third inning as they capitalized on a couple of walks, a hit batter, and a key RBI single by Trent Butler to score four runs and take a 5-2 lead. The Bulldogs never looked back, adding three runs in the fourth inning, two in the fifth, and two in the sixth to cruise to a dominant 12-2 victory.

Game 2

Friday's rematch on the road was a wildly different contest, with both offenses firing on all cylinders to combine for 30 total runs. After both teams scored a single run in the first inning, the Red Devils edged ahead 2-1 in the second.

Wheeler's offense erupted in the fourth inning, plating five runs to jump out to a 6-2 advantage. Hawkinsville managed to close the gap to 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth, but the Bulldogs answered aggressively with seven runs in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to a commanding 13-4.

The Red Devils fought back fiercely, scoring seven runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it a tense 13-11 game. Wheeler added four crucial insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning and successfully held the Devils to just two runs in the final frame to seal the hard-fought 17-13 win.

This week, the Bulldogs hosted Telfair County on Tuesday in a game played after presstime. The team will be back on the road later in the week, traveling to Twiggs County on Thursday for a 4:00 p.m. matchup before heading to Telfair County on Friday at 5:30 p.m.