The Dawson County High School baseball team was finally able to host a game for the first time this season. Due to rainy weather, the Tigers have either had to cancel or move their home games to road games for the first month of the season. But on Friday, the skies were clear allowing Dawson County to host a doubleheader against Fannin County.

After coming up short at Fannin County, 7-6, on March 6, the Tigers (5-6, 1-2 Region 7-AAA) split the home doubleheader with the Rebels (7-4, 2-1 Region 7-AAA), winning the first game 9-4 and taking the 16-12 loss in the second game of the region-opening series.

The March 6 loss was a tough one as the Tigers were up 6-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, but that’s when the Fannin County bats got hot. The Rebels scored three runs in the sixth inning, followed by four in the seventh to steal the game from the Tigers, 7-6.

After Tuesday’s gut-wrenching loss, many wondered how the Tigers would respond. On Friday, that question was answered.

After allowing a homerun in the first inning to fall behind 1-0, Dawson County could have crumbled, but they didn’t. The Tigers tied the game in the bottom half of the first and then took the lead, 2-1, after Bo Lewis (1-for-3, RBI) connected for an RBI double in the second inning on March 9.

After Fannin County tied the game at two in the fourth, Dawson County’s T.J. Allen (2-for-3, 2 RBI) sent a ball to deep right field for a two-RBI double, the Tigers would score one more in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead.

If the fifth inning was good, the sixth was better. Dawson County scored four runs in the sixth inning with Connor Bearden (2-for-4, 3 RBI) and Candler Caine (1-for-3, 2 RBI) each recording RBIs in the big inning to put the Tigers up 9-2.

The Rebels were able to score two in the seventh, but it was too little, too late as the Tigers outhit Fannin County 12-5 to take the first game of the doubleheader, 9-4.

Pitcher Palmer Sapp earned the complete game win throwing 107 pitches while allowing three earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts.

In the second game, Dawson County was once again able to outhit the Rebels. This time it was 13-10, but unlike the first game, the Tigers weren’t able to turn that into a win. Despite being outhit, the Rebels defeated the Tigers 16-12 to capture the season series.

All knotted up at six after two innings, Fannin County broke the game wide open in the top half of the third inning, scoring seven runs to take a 13-6 lead, a lead they would never relinquish.

Dawson County also had an impressive third inning, scoring three, but it couldn’t match Fannin County’s output. After combining for 22 runs in the first three innings, the scoring slowed as the two teams racked up a total of just six runs (three apiece) in the final four innings.

The varsity boys have a full schedule ahead, with a home game today against Greater Atlanta Christian, as well as March 16 away game against the same team. On Monday the team will face Union County at home and then March 21 away.