The Morgan County Bulldogs (17-8) dropped two of three in last week’s series against the Burke County Bears (18-4).
After a dominant 10-1 win over the Bears in the first game, the Diamond Dogs couldn’t find the same success at the plate in the next two games.
Burke County held the Bulldogs to a combined two runs in those games, beating Morgan County 3-1 and 4-1 respectively in their double-header last Friday.
Morgan County head coach Merritt Ainslie acknowledged the team’s unfortunate luck at the plate.
“It’s a funny game. We had runners in scoring positions many times and had situations where we hit the ball hard and could’ve scored runs or extended some innings,” Ainslie said. “We either hit it right at them or we didn’t execute.”
Even though some of the Diamond Dogs’ bats seemed to stall at times, the work in the field kept them in the doubleheader games.
Morgan County only allowed eight runs total over the course of the three game stretch, and saw a lot of good production from the pitching staff.
Ainslie believes this team can be successful if they continue to execute in the field.
“It was nothing we did wrong defensively. I thought our pitching and defense did very well in the field. Any time you hold a team to three or four runs, you should be able to outscore them I think,” Ainslie said. “There were just key moments in the game where we didn’t get the job done offensively.”
The Diamond Dogs look to find their offense rhythm heading into this week’s series against the Harlem Bulldogs (21-5) who currently sit atop of Region 4 with a perfect 15-0 division record.
Harlem won two of three in last year’s series, but now Morgan County determines their own destiny heading into the final series of the season.
If the Diamond Dogs defeat Harlem in the series, it will be the first time since 2018 Morgan County has won the region in baseball.