By John Spargo
The Fannin County baseball Rebels hopped back into region play Tuesday, March 22, as they traveled to play Dade County. Fannin jumped on the Wolverines from the start and never looked back, breezing to a convincing 17-3 win.
The Rebels got on the scoreboard in the first inning as Jason Pearson led off with a single and Bryson Holloway reached base on an error. After Jake Kuna singled to right field to load the bases, Chance Stacy delivered a two–RBI single, scoring Pearson and Holloway. Carson Callihan drew a one-out walk, and Hayden Danner drove in another Fannin run with a sacrifice and an error, giving the Rebels a quick 3-0 lead. With the bases loaded again, Sawyer Moreland was hit by a pitch, scoring courtesy runner Jordan Bennett. The Rebels ended the opening frame with a 4-0 lead.
Stacy got the start on the mound for Fannin and immediately went to work in the bottom of the first inning, pitching around a walk and an error to keep Dade County scoreless. In the top of the second inning, Holloway reached on an error, Kuna walked, and Stacy singled, however, Fannin couldn’t score, keeping the score 4-0.
Stacy retired the Wolverines in the second, giving Fannin a chance to pad their lead in the top of the third inning.
Danner and Landon Norton had back-to-back singles, and Moreland drove in courtesy runner Colton Gray. Pearson followed, ripping a double to left field, scoring Norton to give the Rebels a 6-0 cushion. Holloway was hit by a pitch, loading the bases, setting up the Rebels to blow the wide open. Connor Martin was hit with another pitch, driving in Moreland. Kuna kept the inning rolling, getting an RBI single to increase the Fannin lead to 8-0. Stacy had the big hit of the inning, smoking a three-run double, clearing the bases and giving the Rebels a commanding 11-0 lead. Fannin wasn’t finished though, as Callihan walked, and after two strikeouts, Moreland drove in Bennett and Callihan. Pearson walked again, but a groundout ended the inning, but it was a great one as the Rebels put up nine runs in the inning and took a comfortable 13-0 lead.
The Wolverines scored a run of their own in the bottom of the third, cutting the score to 13-1, but couldn’t get any closer after a flyball was shagged to end the inning. Fannin County added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning as Martin walked, Kuna singled again, and they scored on an error and a sacrifice fly, giving them a lead of 15-1. Dade bounced back in the bottom of the inning, scoring two more runs, cutting the lead to 15-3, but again, Stacy got the third out of the inning on another fly ball to right field.
Moreland started the fifth inning off reaching base on another Wolverine error, and then Pearson singled yet again, giving Fannin a chance to add to their already huge lead. Holloway drove in Moreland with a grounder to third base that couldn’t be handled. Clay Heaton got in on the action as he singled to right, scoring Pearson to extend the Fannin lead to 17-3 after the top of the fifth inning.
After the leadoff batter got on for the Wolverines in the bottom of the inning, Stacy sat them down in order, giving the Rebels a region win by the score of 17-3.
Leading the way at the plate for Fannin was Pearson, Kuna, and Stacy, as each of them had three hits apiece. Stacy led the Rebels with five RBI’s on the day as well. Moreland went 2-3 and drove in two runs and scored two more. Norton, Danner, and Heaton all had base hits as Fannin lit up the scoreboard against the Wolverines. On the mound, Stacy pitched five innings, only giving up four hits and struck out three batters.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - Final
FCHS 4 0 9 2 2 X X - 17
DCHS 0 0 1 2 0 X X - 3