Lumpkin Baseball team begins season 2-1

The LCHS varsity baseball team began its 2020 regular season with a 2-1 record after the Indians bounced back from a season opening loss to the Lakeview Academy Lions and defeated the Union County Panthers and the Coosa Eagles when they stepped onto the diamond last week.
Coming into the season, LCHS head baseball coach Jonathan Gastley knew that his players were going to have to play sound baseball in order to perform well during the 2020 season.
“We’re going to have to be creative and rely a lot on our bats and our arms,” said Gastley. “We might win a lot of games 3-2, but we’re going to compete.”
The Indians got their first chance to step onto the diamond for the 2020 season when they traveled to Lakeview Academy to battle it out with the Lions in the team’s season opener on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
After a scoreless top of the first for the Indians, LCHS pitcher Dalton Caldwell took to the mound and delivered two strong innings for Lumpkin, striking out four of the six batters he faced.
In the top of the third inning, Lumpkin broke the scoreless deadlock between the two teams with a RBI single off the bat of Chase Beamon. Beamon’s timely hit gave the Indians a 1-0 advantage.
However, Lakeview took the lead in the bottom of the third when Skyler Thellman blasted a two-run shot over the wall in left center field. Thellman’s home run gave the Lions a 2-1 advantage.
Lakeview broke the game open one inning later when the Lions plated six runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a commanding 8-1 lead over Lumpkin.
The Indians would get a run back in the top of the fifth when Harris Taylor powered a pitch deep to center field and over the wall for a solo home run. Taylor’s blast cut the Lions’ lead to 8-2.
Unfortunately, that would be the last run the Indians would score in the contest.
Lakeview went on to score four runs in the bottom of the sixth to earn a 12-2 run-rule shortened victory.
The loss gave the Indians a 0-1 record to start their 2020 campaign.
The Indians hoped to bounce back from the season opening loss to Lakeview when they traveled to Union County High School to take on the Panthers and the Coosa Eagles on Saturday, Feb. 15.
The Indians faced off with Union County in their first game of the day.
The Panthers rode an early 1-0 lead all the way to the top of the fifth versus the Indians in what at first appeared to be a pitcher’s duel and defensive battle. But, the Indians’ bats finally heated up in the top of the fifth when Lumpkin plated two runs to take its first lead of the ballgame.
The Indians would not relinquish the lead and continued to pile on the offense in the top of the sixth when they scored 10 runs to extend their lead to 12-1.
The Panthers were unable to answer back in the bottom half of the sixth, allowing the Indians to earn themselves a 12-1 victory.
Sean Swistek and Caleb Childs both had a solid days at the plate for the Indians versus Union County, recording three hits apiece. Swistek also knocked in three runs for Lumpkin in the win.
Beamon continued to have a strong start to the season with two hits and two RBIs.
Caldwell picked up the victory for the Indians on the mound with four solid innings of scoreless work in which he struck out three Panther batters.  
The win marked a good start to the day and improved the Indians’ overall record to 1-1.
After a short break, the Indians were back on the diamond for their second game of the day against the Coosa Eagles.
The Indians scored twice in the top of the first inning versus the Eagles to take an early advantage. Lumpkin tacked on another run to extend their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third when Nick Turner caught the Coosa defense off guard and stole home.
But, the offense didn’t stop there for the Indians, as the lineup heated up again in the top of the fourth with three more runs.
The Eagles, trailing 6-0, finally broke onto the scoreboard in the bottom half of the frame to cut Lumpkin’s lead to 6-1. However, the Indians limited the damage in the inning to just the one run and then got the run back in the top of the fifth. Lumpkin added one more run in the top of the sixth to increase its lead to 8-1.
The Eagles scored once more in the ballgame, but were unable to mount any sort of comeback attempt versus the Indians.
In the end, Lumpkin defeated Coosa by a final score of 8-2 to sweep their competition during the doubleheader hosted by Union County High School.
The victory over Coosa improved the Indians’ overall record to 2-1 to start the 2020 season.
At press time, the Indians were set to take on Gilmer for a doubleheader on the road on Monday, Feb. 17, and Pickens County on Tuesday, Feb. 18. No official results were available.
The LCHS varsity baseball team will be back in action when the Indians host the Pickens County Dragons at the LCHS baseball field for the team’s 2020 home opener tomorrow, Feb. 20. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.