'Our time': Smith fans 9, 'Cats win 7th straight

Mar. 10—VALDOSTA — Behind dominant pitching and timely offense, the Valdosta High baseball team continued to roll.

Junior right-hander Cohen Smith struck out nine with four hits and two walks in six innings as the Wildcats shut out the Berrien County Rebels 6-0 Tuesday night for their seventh straight win.

Heading into the bottom of the fourth inning leading 1-0, Valdosta head coach Brad Porter declared in the dugout, "Our time," saying it once more for emphasis.

The 'Cats heeded Porter's declaration as senior Max Newbern led off with a double, followed by a Nyk Emerson bunt to move Newbern to third. With a runner in scoring position, senior Jordan Caraway came through with a sac fly RBI to make it 2-0.

Following a walk issued to sophomore first baseman Isaiah Haygood, the 'Cats pushed the lead to 3-0 on an error.

"Here lately, the fourth inning's been our inning," Porter said. "We've just been able to go out there after we've seen a pitcher one time, maybe twice through the order, we've really been able to figure guys out here lately. We've just had that energy and that feeling in our dugout. We were able to put up a two spot and that energy just carried over. We had another good inning in the fifth and another in the sixth."

Smith ran into a jam in the top of the fifth as an error by third baseman Demetrius Donaldson put Berrien's Brant Sain on base. Two batters later, Bart Nix dropped a bunt and reached on a fielder's choice followed by a walk issued to Josh Spells.

Another error by Donaldson at third allowed Beau Nix to load the bases for the Rebels with two outs. Needing to prevent the Rebels' from cutting into the lead, Smith slammed the door shut by striking out Travis Staley to get out of the inning.

"I've been having trouble keeping the ball low and tonight that's really what I focused on and got a lot of ground balls and that helped us win," Smith said. "(The run support) gave me a lot of confidence. It gave me some cushion out there and I felt like I could be more comfortable out there on the mound."

With Smith holding strong on the mound, the 'Cats continued to find offense.

Georgia State commit JD Smith led off the bottom of the fifth with a double to left field and senior short stop Cole Porter was hit by a pitch for the second time by Berrien starter Whit Shepard two put two men on for Valdosta.

Eli Batts' sac bunt put runners on second and third with one out, then Newbern drew a walk from Shepard to load the bases. Emerson once again came through in a big spot for the 'Cats, popping up for a sac fly RBI to bring Smith across to push the lead to 4-0.

Between consecutive walks to Caraway and Haygood, Porter scored on a throw that got away from the catcher to make it 5-0.

EJ Miley came off the bench and led off the bottom of the sixth with a base hit before scoring the sixth and final run for Valdosta on a sac fly by Porter.

In all, the 'Cats score six runs on seven hits while committing three errors in the game.

"When we swing the bat well, we're producing runs extremely well," Porter said. "We're getting on base a lot of ways — getting hit by pitches, getting walks, getting bunts and then when we get those big hits, we can do things like we did. Explode in the last half of the game and pull away."

After a 2-2 start, the 'Cats have gotten on a roll. Tuesday's shutout was only the team's second of the season and the first of this seven-game winning streak.

Over the last seven games, Valdosta has outscored its opponents 51-24.

With Cohen Smith's performance, Porter was pleased with how the junior has emerged as a rock-solid option at the team's third starter behind ace JD Smith and Isaiah Haygood.

"Cohen did an outstanding job," Porter said. "That was just what we needed tonight. He just went out there and really forced contact and really forced them to do something offensively and then we made defensive plays. He struck out nine guys and a lot of those strikeouts were in really big situations. We're really pleased with what he did."

UP NEXT

Valdosta visits region foe Northside Friday night in Warner Robins. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.