Knights Take Two from Livsey Baseball Academy in Sunday Double Header at Legion Field

The Marietta Knights got a break from the recent Winter weather with a beautiful sunny day for a double header with the Livsey Baseball Academy at Legion Field in Austell.

Jack Vargo scores on a bang bang play at the plate after a passed ball.

Game 1 was a peculiar affair with an exciting finish. Livsey took an early lead with big hits and aggressive base running and protected it with great defensive plays. But the Knights kept battling even as time expired while they trailed 10-4 with 2 outs. The lead was cut to 10-6 when Alex Beaullieu scorched a ball that the SS couldn't handle. The guys stayed the course, were patient at the plate and were smart on the bases. They kept chipping away until suddenly they closed the gap to 10-9.






Alex Beaullieu kept game 1 alive with a hot shot to
SS and made a huge diving catch in CF in game 2.

Livsey brought in their big armed CF to try to save the game. Jack saw that the pitcher was throwing hard but wild. After the game he told Coach Rob that he knew there was a good chance there might be a fastball coming right at his head. Sure enough, down a run with the bases loaded the fastball was headed right at him but thankfully a little lower. Jack turned and took the heater off his backside for a painful but happy game tying RBI. Gil then took 4 straight balls to push Nathan Brooks across the plate for a wild comeback 11-10 win. Austin Hansell struck out 3 in 2 innings on the mound. Jack Vargo came in and threw a great final inning to get the win.

The Knights Brain Trust of Hunter, Gil and Austin Analyze the Action.
 

Luke Martin had an RBI and 2 runs scored in Gm 2

Game 2 was definitely the better baseball game as both teams played very well. Gil Hastings got the start on the mound and was great from the start holding Livsey scoreless in the first thanks in part to Nathan Brooks hauling in 2 flyballs at 1B. The visiting Knights got on the board in the 2nd when Luke Martin drove a single into CF to score Austin. Luke scored to make it 2-0 on a fielder's choice by Nicholas Brooks, Nathan's little brother, who picked up the big RBI while filling in for the short handed Knights.

Gil remained sharp but Livsey hung tough and scratched across 2 runs on just 2 more hits and it was tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 4th. Gil struck out the 1st batter. The second batter hit a flair into shallow CF that Alex caught with a Sportscenter quality diving catch and Gil struck out the third batter to send it to the 5th still tied.

With 1 out, Gil helped himself with a rocket into the LCF gap for a stand up triple. Hunter Williamson gave the Knights back the lead when he ripped a 2-2 pitch into CF for an RBI single. After a walk and an error scored Hunter another walk loaded the bases with 2 outs.



Gil Hastings got the win with 5 K's in a complete game and scored the game
winner after blasting a  triple to fence.

That brought Jeff Dismukes to the plate. Jeff grew up playing with many of the Knights at Oregon Park. He took a break from his soccer career to help out the Knights on Sunday. He was a huge help on defense filling in at SS and LF and unfortunately he had already been plunked twice on the day. This time was different as Jeff launched a line drive into left for an RBI single to extend the Knights lead. With the bases still loaded, Nicholas got plunked to bring Luke home and the Knights went to the bottom of the final inning leading 6-2.

That would be all Gil needed. He closed out the complete game win by bracketing a Livsey single with 2 strikeouts and coaxing a pop fly to Jeff at SS for the final out and the double header sweep. Gil struck out 4 in 5 innings and only allowed 1 earned run. It finally felt like Spring on Sunday in Austell and it's always a great day when you can win 2. Great job Knights.




Nicholas Brooks helped out his big brother's Knights
with great defensive play and 2 RBI's.