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Thomas shuts down high-scoring Red Bay attack as Bobcats win area opener

Peyton Thomas struck out 11 in a complete game one-hitter for Phil Campbell on Tuesday, and Joe Hardy went 3-for-4 with a home run to help the Bobcats open area play with a 10-1 win at rival Red Bay.
 
The Tigers (8-6, 0-1 in Class 2A, Area 14) came in averaging 10.1 runs per game and batting .385 as a team, but they couldn’t get much going against Thomas (2-3) on Tuesday. The senior right-hander gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the first but nothing thereafter, retiring nine straight batters during one early-game stretch and striking out five consecutive hitters in the fourth and fifth innings.
 
Thomas threw 65 of his 100 pitches for strikes, walking just one batter and hitting two. He got nine groundball outs to go along with his 11 K’s and now has 47 strikeouts and only five walks in 30 innings this season.
 
Skylar Brazil started on the mound for Red Bay and pitched a scoreless first inning, working around a two-out double by Thomas. The Tigers took the lead in the bottom of the first when leadoff man Alex Burroughs reached on an error, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Thomas struck out Chase Allen with a runner at third to keep it a 1-0 game.
 
The Bobcats (11-5, 1-0) answered with a long ball in the top of the second. Senior Brody Nix singled with one out, and then Hardy hit a two-run homer to left—his second of the season—to put Phil Campbell in front.
 
After Thomas set down the Tigers in order in the bottom of the second, the Bobcats scored three runs in the top of the third. Ridge Raper led off the inning with a double to left and scored one out later on a base hit by Nate Owens. After Chase Hutchens reached on an error, Owens scored when Brazil was called for a balk. Nix then capped the inning with his second hit of the day, an RBI single to make it 5-1.
 
Thomas got three groundball outs in the bottom of the third, running his streak of consecutive batters retired to nine. Brazil pitched a one-two-three top of the fourth, and then Kolby Bragwell led off the bottom of the inning with a single. Hayden Murray reached on an error to put two men on with nobody out, but Thomas recovered to strike out the next three batters and end the threat.
 
Phil Campbell added a run in the top of the fifth. Thomas drew a walk, and courtesy runner Brandon Thomas moved to third on a pair of wild pitches before scoring on a groundout by Hutchens to make it 6-1.
 
Thomas struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the fifth before plunking Burroughs and Rooker to put two men aboard. He avoided any damage, though, by getting Bragwell to ground out to second.
 
The Bobcats tacked on two more runs in the sixth on a pair of two-out RBI singles, one from Austen Baker and the other from Raper. Thomas retired Red Bay in order in the bottom half, and then Phil Campbell finished off the scoring with a two-out rally in the top of the seventh. Hardy and Mike Wrona both singled and later scored when Baker reached on an error to make it 10-1.
 
Thomas finished strong on the mound, striking out two in a one-two-three bottom of the seventh.
 
Hardy finished 3-for-4 with the two-run homer and three runs scored. Peyton Thomas was 2-for-3 with two doubles, and Nix and Raper also had two hits apiece.
 
The series will conclude with a doubleheader at Phil Campbell on Thursday.
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