Fulton Beat, April 23-29: Milton baseball continues to surprise; Alpharetta undefeated in boys tennis

The 2010 Milton Eagles baseball team has surprised everyone this year. After a dismal 2009 season when they went, 7-18 and lost nine of their last 10, not much was expected out of them. This week they are ranked No. 2 in the Class 5A coaches poll (gasports.com). They had been ranked No. 8 for the majority of the season.
In four games last week, the Eagles outscored their opponents, 42-12. They beat three region opponents, Walton, Alpharetta and Campbell to solidify their lead in Region 6, Class 5A. In the only other scheduled game last week, they defeated Fayette County, 17-5. It took a while for the Eagles to get on track, but in the fourth inning, down, 5-1, they scored five runs to take a 6-5 lead. They then went on to score 11 runs over the final three innings to account for the 17-5 win. Starting pitcher, Will Thomas was replaced in the third inning by right-hander, Brandon Nix. Nix gave up four runs and was replaced by sophomore Jason Richman, who allowed no hits, no runs and struck out three in three and 1/3 innings pitched and earned the win. Robert Shafer led the team with a single, double and 3 RBI. He also reached base four times and scored two runs.
Milton will face Pope, Kell and Centennial in three key region match-ups over the next week. Pope trails by one game in the region standings, which makes that game very important if the Eagles hope to win a region title.

HORNETS BACK ON TRACK …
Roswell is hanging in there. After losing five out of six, they have managed to win two in a row. The Hornets destroyed Campbell 16-0 and then beat Wheeler 6-3 last week. The Campbell game was probably the team’s best overall effort this season. Chris Wright pitched five innings and allowed no runs and one hit while recording 11 strikeouts. Zane Evans finished the game with a triple short of the cycle. He had a single, double, and a homerun along with four RBI to lead the team. If the game hadn’t ended on the mercy rule, Evans might have had a chance to hit that triple.
The Hornets are still in the top 10 in the Class 5A coaches’ poll (gasports.com), coming in at No. 10. Five games remain on the schedule and, if any team can run the table, this team can.

LOVETT STAYS HOT …
The Lovett Lions continued their run through Region 6, Class 2A with victories over Westminster and Buford last week. In the Buford game, starting pitcher Jonathan Carkhuff gave up only three hits and no runs and the Lions scored seven runs in the fifth inning to win, 8-0. It was the team’s third shutout this year. The Lions are only giving up an average of four runs per game while scoring nearly 10 runs per game. At 15-6 they are ranked No. 7 in the latest Class 2A coaches’ poll (gasports.com). Lovett is 8-0 in the region and look to wrap up the regular season title with two games this week against Decatur and GAC.

RAIDER TENNIS RUNS TABLE …
The Alpharetta boys tennis team won the regional tournament last week and finished the regular season undefeated. They finished 18-0 and earned a No. 1 seed in the state tournament which starts on Friday. Led by Ritchie Wang, Kevin Chiu, Andrew Hu, and Jack Wilson, the team combined to lose only eight individual matches all season. They will face a familiar opponent in the state tournament, North Fulton neighborhood rival Chattahoochee.

TRACK AND FIELD NOTES …
For many teams around the county, region championships will take place this week. At the McEachern Invitational last weekend, the Westlake boys and girls both finished second in the overall team results. The boys’ won the 4×100 meter relay in 41.43 seconds just .13 seconds ahead of second place McEachern. Shaquavia Porter came in first in the girls’ 300-meter hurdles for Westlake. The girls also won in the 4×400 meter relay besting Alpharetta by nine seconds.
Banneker’s Robert Brantley earned a first place finish in the boys’ 400-meter dash. Alpharetta’s Rachel Thorn won the girls’ 1600-meter run four seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Dylan Hassett, also of Alpharetta won the girls’ 3200-meter run by 10 seconds.

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