Make it eight great performances by the Terrors to kick off the 2022 baseball season.
Glynn Academy rolled to a 7-2 victory over Ware County on Wednesday at Wainwright Field to run its winning streak to eight games open the year.
Starter Tom Echols had a strong outing for the Terrors, pitching a complete game and allowing just three hits, two walks, and two runs while striking out eight. The Gators’ lone runs of the contest came in the top of the second when a run scored on a ground out to second ahead of a two-out RBI single to left field before Echols got out of the inning with a strikeout.
But Glynn had already built a three-run advantage in the bottom of the first when, after a lead-off single by John Wise Long and a Spencer Hartman walk, Tyler Devlin scored both on a one-out triple to right field. A batter later, Trent Tankersley brought Devlin home on a two-out single.
Still up 3-2 going into the bottom of the second, the Terrors went back to work, taking advantage of an error that allowed Jack Anderson to reach safely to score another run on Hartman’s RBI double with two outs.
An inning later, it was Anderson driving in runs when he followed singles by Gus Gandy and Tankersley with a base hit of his own to score both and extend Glynn’s lead to 6-2.
With Echols cruising, the Terrors would hardly need more offense. The senior only faced seven batters over the third and fourth innings, and despite an error and a walk that gave the Gators a pair of baserunners with no outs in the top of the fifth, Echols escaped unscathed, retiring the next three batters in order.
Following a 1-2-3 sixth inning, Echols had retired six straight batters when he hit Ware County’s lead-off man in the top of the seventh. The ensuing batter singled, once again giving the Gators two on with no outs. But once again, Echols sat the next three batters down to secure the win.
Hartman completed Glynn Academy’s scoring in the bottom of the sixth when he brought Long home to score on a two-out RBI single, finishing his evening at the plate 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.
Long went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and two runs scored, and Devlin drove in two runs on a triple in his 1-for-3 performance. Anderson finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs as well.
Ranked No. 5 in the most recent Class 6A Coaches Box Poll, Glynn Academy will look to remain undefeated when it travels to Brantley County on Friday. First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m.