Sara Reid — Special to the Weakley County Pres
Posted: Thursday, March 26, 2009 2:42 pm

What lies ahead — Bulldog senior Evan Orr (right) goes into a slide while the South Fulton catcher takes the throw during Gleason's win over the Red Devils on Tuesday.

Before the rain could blow in, the Gleason Bulldogs blew the South Fulton Red Devils out, 8-0, on the baseball diamond this past Tuesday afternoon in Gleason.

The Dawgs first lit up the scoreboard in the second inning. Zach Wallace was hit by a pitch and took first. He stole second and was driven home by Matt Mayo. Gleason followed with hits from Nicky Spain, Evan Orr and Ryan Richardson to lead 3-0 after two.

Colin Bennett struck out three straight batters to start the third and Gleason scored another run in the bottom of the inning when Bennett doubled, Wallace popped up to center field and Bennett came in to score on a wild pitch.

Neither team generated any offense in the fourth and, though Bennett again struck out three straight at the top of the fifth, both Bennett and Wallace struck out and Mayo grounded out to keep the score 4-0 in favor of the home team through five.

The Bulldogs’ bats came back to life in the sixth, however, as Spain singled and beat the throw home on an Orr double to make the score 5-0. Ryan Richardson singled to advance Orr to third. Hunter Morse singled, but Orr was thrown out at home. Austin Sullivan’s drive to deep center field to drive in Richardson and Morse and Gleason took a 7-0 lead. Bennett reached first base on a single and Wallace followed with a fly ball to plate Sullivan and put Gleason up 8-0.

To cap off the game, Bennett struck out three of the final four batters he faced and the Bulldogs recorded a dominating victory in the books.

The win followed a 9-1 victory over the Red Devils on their home field in South Fulton on Monday afternoon.

Gleason had two Bulldogs score in the first inning thanks to a two-out rally. Bennett drew a walk and Wallace was hit by a pitch. Both eventually scored. Nicky Spain had a RBI single in the at-bat.

Gleason extended the lead to 5-0 with three runs in the second inning. Richardson reached on an error. Cody Ezell drew a walk. Austin Sullivan drove in a run with a single and scored. Wallace's triple brought in a run for the Dawgs.

A four-spot in the seventh sealed the deal for GHS Ezell, Sullivan, Bennett and Wallace all scored. Bennett had the second GHS triple of the day, and Spain had a RBI groundout.

Wallace got the mound win, allowing a solo homer to break up the shutout.

In other action against Red Devils last Friday at Tater Town, the Dawgs took a 10-6 victory over the Bradford Red Devils.

Gleason fell behind 1-0 when it allowed an unearned run in the top of the second.

The Dawgs took over the lead with two runs in the home half of the second inning. Thomas Fowler and Orr both singled. Orr and Thomas' pinch runner Nicky Spain both scored. Orr notched a RBI as did Ezell.

Gleason stretched its lead to 4-1 with two more in the third.  Bennett singled and scored. Wallace doubled and scored.

Bradford regained the advantage with four runs in the fourth. Errors and walks contributed the Gleason falling behind. Another unearned run in the fifth extended the BHS lead to 6-4.

The Dawgs put together a rally to move back on top, 8-6, in the bottom of the fifth inning. Bennett and Wallace both doubled and scored. Ezell and Matt Mayo each drew an walk and scored for Gleason.

Gleason got insurance runs in the sixth as both Ezell and Hunter Morse doubled and then reached home for the 10-6 final.