Knights Take Care of Business against West Cobb Royals with 9-1 Win.

The Marietta Knights and West Cobb Royals congratulate each other on a well played game at Mt. Paran North Park

The Marietta Knights used a business like performance to get past the West Cobb Royals 9-1 at Mt. Paran North Park Tuesday night. It was a great all around game by the Knights with dominant pitching, big hitting and solid defense. Austin Hansell (aka Seven) got the start and the win on the mound. Austin threw 2 shutout innings, struck out 2 and helped himself with good defense. He picked off a runner at 2B and he stabbed a hot shot to the right of the mound that looked to be headed for CF and threw the batter out at 1B. Gil Hastings came on and picked up the save with 3 innings, 1 unearned run and 2 strike outs. Austin and Gil gave up just 1 hit each.

Jackson Tysinger put on a clinic at SS and had
2 hits and scored twice.

And the Marietta defense took good care of their pitchers. The 2 best defensive plays of the night were both great athletic plays that the players made look easy. Jackson Tysinger broke on a hard grounder from his SS position and coolly tracked it as it took a series of bad hops. He moved through the ball and made a text book throw to 1B for a big out. The next play came from Catcher Luke Martin. After a Royal squared to bunt, Luke sprung out of his crouch ready to charge. But the ball went straight up and Luke snatched it out of the air for another huge out.

The Knights were also excited to see Alex Beaullieu back in the infield after battling an arm injury for several weeks. Alex played several innings at 2B and had 2 putouts and turned an awesome 1-4-3 double play to end a Royals' threat.

The Knights' coaching staff was most excited about the team's communication. On the pick off at 2B, Gil let Austin know the runner was going so Austin could step off and throw out the runner. Right before the popped bunt Hunter called out that the batter had squared on his previous at bat. And on the double play the entire infield called 2 as Gil fielded the ball at the mound to let him know he had time to get the lead runner and ultimately the double play. This team has a great baseball IQ and they displayed it Tuesday night for sure.

Luke Martin had another great outing behind the plate
including getting 2 Royals out on bunts.

Offensively, Marietta took control early and kept the pressure on. After Austin shut out West Cobb in the top of the 1st, Jack Vargo walked, stole 2nd and 3rd and then scored on a passed ball. Jackson and George Krivsky both singled and scored on Gil's 2 run single and the Knights were up 3-0 after 1. The Knights added another 3 in the bottom of the 2nd. Nathan Brooks led off with a walk and scored on an RBI single from Cody Hahn. George Krivksy hit a 2 run single to make it 6-0. The Royals brought in a pitcher in the 3rd that mixed a nice fastball with a wicked curve to shut out the Knights in the 3rd and 4th innings.



Cuatro struck out 2 and only gave up 1 hit in 3 IP
for the save and added 3 RBI's.

The only bump in the road came in the top of the 5th when Marietta's only 2 errors of the game and a missed opportunity on a FC gave West Cobb a run and runners on 2nd and 3rd. But the Knights regrouped and Gil got the next 3 Royals out with a strikeout, a pop to Jackson at SS and grounder to George at 1B to preserve the 6-1 lead.
George belted a triple to deep RF to get things started in the 5th and scored on Gil's RBI ground out. Luke walked, stole 2nd, advanced to 3rd on the ground out and scored on Austin's Sac Fly to CF. After Nathan walked, he scored the Knights final run when Jack ripped a line drive that was too hot for the 2nd baseman to handle and the Knights took the 9-1 victory.

George's hot streak continued with a 3 for 3 night with 2 RBI's and 2 runs. Jackson was 2 for 2 with 2 runs and Cody was 2 for 3. Gil had 3 RBI's.

After a cancelled tournament and a rainout the Knights looked very sharp despite the long layoff. It was a great victory for the home team.    

In addition to making great plays at SS, Jackson showed off the similar skills that
earned him the Social Class Best Dancer Award