By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA – The Calera baseball Eagles have gotten off to a strong start in 2016, and are 6-1 through Feb. 26. In the six games Calera has won, the Eagles have scored at least 10 runs in five of those games, and have won each game by an average margin of roughly eight runs per game. On Feb. 25, Calera played Shades Mountain Christian in a double-header, and won both games by a combined score of 21-2.

 

Game 1. Calera 10 – Shades Mountain Christian 1

Will Glasscock hit a lead-off single in a nine-pitch at-bat to start the bottom of the first, and by the end of the inning Calera held a 5-0 lead. John Ellison, Kevin Dowdell, Matthew Marfice, Tyler Oclair and Zach Gaines each all garnered hits in the inning as well, as Calera built an early lead that proved to be insurmountable. When Smith tripled with two outs in the bottom of the third to score Oclair from first, and scored himself promptly after on a Glasscock pop up, Calera was in cruise control mode, and won easily, 10-1.

Jacob Smith, Dowdell, Tyler Ferguson and Christian Hall all saw action on the mound in the first game of the doubleheader, with Smith, Dowdell and Ferguson each pitching two innings before Hall finished the game out in the seventh.

 

Game 2. Calera 11 – Shades Mountain Christian 1.

The second game was nearly identical to the first, as Calera once again scored five runs in the first inning en route to an 11-1 win. Glasscock was hit by the third pitch of the bottom of the first inning, promptly stole second and third, and then came home when Ellison singled on the fifth pitch he saw. Later in the inning, Studdard smacked a double to right field, which scored Smith and Hall to give Calera a 5-0 lead. Another two runs in the second gave Calera a 7-0 lead, and the Eagles cruised to an 11-1 win.

Marfice, Austin McKinney, Gaines and Chris McGibboney all saw action from the mound in the second game. Marfice and McKinney each threw two innings while Gaines and McGibboney threw one apiece in the shortened, six-inning affair as the Eagles moved to 6-1 easily.