Courtesy of Florence Tines-Daily
The Hokes Bluff High School baseball team’s season came to an end last Saturday (May 6), as the top-ranked Eagles (23-7) suffered a sweep at the hands of Haleyville in the Class 4A state quarterfinals.
Hokes Bluff lost the opener by a score of 2-1 and fell 15-1 in five innings in Game 2.
“We knew that [Haleyville had a good team,” said Hokes Bluff head coach Mike Roberson. “They had a lot of seniors and they played like it. We didn’t hit the ball well in either game and we kind of fell apart in the second game.”
In the opener, Haleyville scored what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 2-0 lead.
The Eagles answered in the top of the seventh on Dylan Teague’s RBI single.
Teague allowed only six hits for Hokes Bluff and both Haleyville runs were unearned. He struck out six and walked four.
Haleyville scored its first run in the first inning and then the teams matched zeroes until the Lions added their second unearned run in the sixth.
“It’s disappointing, but we had a good season considering what we accomplished,” said Robertson. “We lost seven seniors from last year who all played, and two weeks into this season we lost our No. 1 pitcher (Koby Addison). We started two freshman and three sophomores, and our starting catcher for the last two years (Wyatt Watson) hurt his knee in football and had to play another position. We were also in an area with Cherokee County, Jacksonville and White Plains, who were all ranked in the preseason. So to say that this team were overachievers is an understatement.”