Swain County Downs Murphy In Game One, Game Two On Thursday For All The Marbles
Sports, Team FYN Sports May 2, 2023
Flip Watson Field- The Swain County Maroon Devils got the best of the Murphy Bulldogs last night, as they took advantage of five Bulldog errors on their way to an 8-4 victory.
Gabe Lillard was on the mound for the Maroon Devils and he showed off his best stuff, striking out 7 Murphy batters through 6 innings and only allowing 1 run on 9 hits. Ronnie Griggs came on in relief of Lillard and slammed the door on the Bulldogs, as he pitched a near-perfect bottom of the seventh to end the game.
Lillard helped himself out at the plate, going 2-3 with 3 RBIs and a Triple. Aiden Southards also had multiple hits on the evening as the Sophomore went 2-4 with the bat in his hands.
Even though the Southpaw didn’t allow a single earned run, Cole Laney took the loss for the Bulldogs. He allowed just 2 hits through five innings and struck out 7 Swain County batters. Four unearned runs came across the plate thanks to 5 Bulldog errors.
The Maroon Devils win didn’t just improve their standing in the SMC, they also helped out the boys from Clay County as Hayesville took sole possession of first place in the conference thanks to the Bulldogs loss.
As far as the Maroon Devils and Bulldogs are concerned, however, Thursday’s rematch will have a lot on the line. The winner of Thursday’s game two will move into second place in the Smoky Mountain Conference Standings, with the Bulldogs having a possibility of moving into a tie for first depending on how the Robbinsville-Hayesville series goes. (Swain lost both games vs Hayesville, therefore Hayesville owns the tiebreaker no matter what.)
If Murphy defeats Swain on Thursday and Robbinsville takes one of their two games vs Hayesville, then the Dogs and Jackets will be tied for first.
Smoky Mountain Conference Baseball Stat Leaders & Standings Entering Week 9
Sports, Team FYN Sports April 24, 2023
SMC- Heading into week 9 of the NCHSAA baseball season, let’s take a look at our Smoky Mountain Conference standings and stat leaders. We still have some big series coming up as Hayesville and Murphy take this field this week, as do Robbinsville and Hiwassee Dam.
CONFERENCE STANDINGS
1 Hayesville (8-0)
1 Murphy (8-0)
3 Swain Co. (6-8)
4 Hiwassee Dam (4-9)
4 Robbinsville (6-10)
6 Andrews (2-8)
7 Cherokee (1-9)
CONFERENCE STAT LEADERS
Smoky Mountain Conference Baseball Stat Leaders Through March 27th
Business, Sports, Team FYN Sports March 28, 2023
MaxPreps- We are currently about 5 weeks into the Smoky Mountain Conference baseball season as we inch near the end of March. Let’s take a look at our stat leaders and conference standings through March 27th.
SMC League Standings
As you can see, Smoky Mountain Conference teams have played anywhere from just 2 games to 8 games in the 2023 season. The Murphy Bulldogs stans atop the standings at this point, as they are 3-0 in conference play and 4-4 overall on the year. Hayesville just got their baseball season underway as they take things slow under first-year head coach Joe Sellers, but they are looking very good through three games this season. Their one loss on the year was on the road vs Tuscola, and since then they’ve picked up two blowout wins over Andrews. Swain County is also on the up-and-up, as they seem to have found their footing after a rocky start and have rattled off 3 straight wins vs Conference opponents. Hiwassee Dam, Andrews, and Cherokee have all notched one conference win this season, while Robbinsville is still struggling to put things together.
SMC League Leaders
Gabe Lillard, Evan Hedrick, Carter Hayes, John Ledford, and Robert Turner are your Smoky Mountain Conference stat leaders in their respective categories through March 27th.
Lillard has been fooling batters all year on the mound, as he is the league leader in strikeouts and second in Earned Run Average, right behind Tanner Hedrick.
Hedrick has been very efficient for Hiwassee Dam on the mound, as he has only allowed 2 runs on 9 hits in 10 innings pitched so far this season for the Eagles.
Gabe Lillard’s teammate and fellow Maroon Devil Carter Hayes leads the league in batting average (min. 20 Plate App.), hitting .450 on the year.
Bulldogs John Ledford and Robert Turner round out the list of stat leaders as Ledford has driven in 9 RBI’s through 8 games this season, and freshman Robert Turner has been sneaky on the basepaths as he’s credited with 8 Stolen Bases on the year.
TeamFYNSports will update the stat leaders bi-weekly to ensure that we shine a light on these student-athletes and their accomplishments.