Devils 15-3 After Edging W-W 9-8 for Coach Beale's 400th Victory

April 28, 2005

The Lincoln County Diamond Devils came from way behind to nip Washington-Wilkes 9-8 for their 15th overall win of the 2005 season. The win keeps our Devils perfect in Region 7-A competition with a 6-0 mark. Head Coach Billy Beale is now one of the few coaches in Georgia high school baseball history with 400 career wins.

Lincoln County 9, Washington-Wilkes 8

Rontae Norman scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on Danny Williford’s infield hit to give LCHS a 9-8 victory over Washington-Wilkes Wednesday. The Devils fell behind 6-1 and had to play catch-up all day in a game that was sloppily played by both teams.

The Tigers jumped out front in the first on a hit, an infield error and two doubles for a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the second Casey Norman singled and then scored from first on two W-W errors on the same play. Washington-Wilkes came back in the top of the fourth to score three more runs on four hits to grab a 6-1 lead. In the bottom of the fourth Lincoln County came roaring back but most of the scoring was on gifts from the Tigers. With one out, the W-W pitcher hit Casey Norman and Cody Beggs. Austin Goldman had to replace designated hitter Norman. Washington-Wilkes then made two errors to make the score 6-4. Tyler Beale and Brandon Barden then singled to tie the score. Cordarryl Coppin led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run to give the Devils their first lead of the game. Williford reached on an error and advanced to second where he scored on Dontai Parks two-out single. The Red Devils' pitchers had trouble throwing strikes in the top of the seventh as three walks loaded the bases with Tigers. Williford struck out two batters before the Tigers scored two runs on a fielders choice.

With two outs and the score tied 8-8, Rontae Norman walked, then advanced to second on a passed ball. Coppin then singled to short left moving Norman to third. Williford hit a slow roller to the Tiger third baseman and beat the desperation throw to first giving the Devils their come from behind victory.

Williford got his sixth win of the season with a big boost from Barden. Leading hitters were Coppin, Williford and Barden with two hits each.

Lincoln County 7, Glascock County 1

The Red Devils defeated the defending Region 7-A champion Glascock County Monday, 7-1. Tyler Beale pitched a 1-hitter through six innings before running into trouble in the seventh inning. Austin Reed came in with a runner on second and retired the next three Panther hitters to gain his second save of the season. Danny Williford singled in the first inning and scored on Brandon Barden’s two-out double. The Devils then added three runs in the second inning. Kiece Crite walked and was followed by a Rontae Norman single. Cordarryl Coppin singled Norman to third. The Glascock pitcher then balked Norman home and Coppin scored on Williford’s double. Cody Beggs led off the fourth inning with a double. He later scored on Coppin’s sacrifice fly. The Devils picked up two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Austin Goldman walked, went to second on a wild pitch and advance to third on Rontae Norman’s single. Norman then stole second and the Panther catcher threw the ball into center field allowing Goldman to score and Norman never stopped running and scored all the way from first.

Lincoln County 10, GMC 7

Lincoln County jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and managed to stay ahead of the GMC Bulldogs for a 10-7 win. Cordarryl Coppin led off the bottom of the first with a double and then scored on Danny Williford’s double. Tyler Beale followed with a single. Brandon Barden followed with a single to score Beale and went all the way to third on an error by a GMC outfielder. Kiece Crite drove in Barden with a sacrifice fly. GMC came back with three runs of their own in the second and the score stayed 4-3
until the bottom of the third inning. Beale led off with his second homer of the season. Barden followed with a double but was thrown out at third on Dontai Park’s ground ball. Crite followed with a double to put runners on second and third. Casey Norman then doubled in both runs to give the Devils a 7-3 lead. In the fourth Coppin walked, stole second and scored on Barden’s single. GMC scored two in the fifth to make the score 8-5. Lincoln County answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the
fifth. Crite walked, Norman singled and then Crite was forced at third by Cody Beggs. Coppin then hit a swinging bunt down the third base line and both runners scored when the Bulldog pitcher threw the ball away to give the Devils a 10-5 lead. GMC scored two runs in the sixth for the final 10-7 score.

Coppin pitched the first five and one-third innings to record his second win of the season. Williford got his first save of the season to close out GMC in the sixth and seventh innings.

Lincoln County 11, Aquinas 2

Lincoln County ripped Aquinas 11-2 on April 15. Danny Williford pitched a five-hitter to raise his record to 5-0. Williford got the Devils off to a lead in the first. He singled, stole second and scored on a ground ball error hit by Brandon Barden. Kiece Crite and Casey Norman singled to lead off the second inning for LCHS. Cody Beggs forced Cite at third but a balk followed leaving runners on second and third. Norman scored on Rontae Norman’s grounder to second. Cordarryl Coppin doubled to score CJ Norman who was running for Beggs. An intentional walk to Danny Williford left runners on first and second. Tyler Beale then doubled in both runners. In the third, Crite doubled, Cody Beggs walked and Rontae Norman then singled in Crite. Coppin then singled to score CJ Norman who was again running for Beggs. The Devils added two more runs in the fifth on Beale’s single which was followed by Barden’s long two-run homer to left. A bases loaded walk to Barden in the fifth gave the Devils their tenth run of the game. The Red Devils final run came in the sixth when Coppin knocked in Crite with a sacrifice fly.

Lincoln County 5, Johnson County 4

Cordarryl Coppin raced home from second on Tyler Beale’s two out single to score the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Red Devils beat Johnson County for their eighth straight win. With two outs Coppin walked and went to second on Danny Williford’s single. Beale then slapped a line drive single down the left field line to score Coppin with the game winner.

LCHS jumped on top in the first inning on single by Williford and a triple by Beale. Beale also scored on an overthrow at third. Johnson County tied the game in the third on two hits, a walk and an error. Rontae Norman then led off the third inning with a double and scored on Coppin’s two-run homer as Lincoln County regained the lead. Johnson County scored a single run in the fifth and in the seventh to tie the game before the Red Devils' seventh inning rally.

Brandon Barden scattered three hits over the first five innings. Austin Reed pitched the sixth and seventh innings to gain his second win of the season.