THOMASVILLE — In a game that lasted nearly four hours, the Thomasville Bulldogs played the equivalent of two full games against Cook on Wednesday night. Thomasville and Cook battled into the night through 14 innings, but ultimately, the Hornets got the upper hand.
The game seemed well in hand through six innings.
Thomasville led 2-0 and had not relinquished many hits as Jadon Lirette had the mound for the Bulldogs. Lirette had a solid outing against Cook, giving up just four hits and striking out seven. Unfortunately, those hits came at the worst time.
In the top of the seventh, as the Bulldogs attempted to close out what was sure to be a shutout victory, Cook had an explosion of offense.
With two outs, Cook rallied to score three runs and take a late lead. Bulldog Tyler Lee kept Thomasville alive with a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh. Lee tied the game after tagging up on a sack fly by Lirette.
As quickly as the offense came, it fled. The game became a pitching duel once more as Thomasville’s Trip Gebel and Cook’s Skinner went back and forth. Gebel finished the game with 6.1 innings pitched and seven K’s. Skinner impressed for the Hornets has he also struck out seven and went nine full innings.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the game broke open once more in the top of the 14th when Gebel gave up a hit and hit a batter, leading to him being replaced with Jad Doane. Gebel and Doane gave up three runs in the bottom of the 14th and three ground outs in the bottom of the inning put Thomasville away for good.
They took the loss with nothing to be ashamed of in a game that can only be described as a marathon of a contest.
The 6-3 loss drops the Bulldogs below .500 as they now sit at 5-6 on the season. Thomasville will enjoy a nice stretch of home games, hopefully leading to a winning record before they hit the road again against Cook on April 10.