Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CALERA – The Calera Eagles are now 5-0 to start out the baseball season after securing a pair of dominant victories on Presidents Day.

Calera defeated the Montevallo Bulldogs 15-0 ahead of a 15-5 win over the Minor Tigers in a doubleheader on Monday, Feb. 17 at the Eagle Sports Complex.

Before then, the Eagles had already started the season off strong with three wins in two days. Calera won a pair of games against Autauga Academy by 10-0 scorelines on Friday, Feb. 14 ahead of another dominant shutout in an 8-0 win over Brookwood on Saturday, Feb. 15.

In the first game of the midday doubleheader on Monday against Montevallo, a pair of singles by Jaiden Brown and AJ Johnson followed by a walk in the bottom of the second loaded up the bases for Kegan Johnson. An error on the first baseman plated a pair of runs to put Calera up 2-0.

The next batter walked to load up the bases before Mac Graham was hit by a pitch to make it 3-0. While the Bulldogs got the next two batters out, another hit batsman took the lead to 4-0.

After the Eagles orchestrated a one-two-three top of the third, they got to work in the home half of the frame. Two singles and a hit batsman loaded up the bases with two outs for Calera, and each of the next three batters reached freely off two walks and a hit by pitch.

That made the lead 7-0 before Brown drove in the eighth and ninth runs home off an RBI single.

The Eagles then drew three straight walks to increase the lead to 11-0. Noah Boyd hit a two-run single and Graham capped off the scoring with a two-run double to take a 15-0 lead which held through the fourth and fifth innings to seal the win.

Brown finished with a 2-for-3 game with two RBI and two runs. Boyd went 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs and two RBI. Graham had three RBI and two runs in a 1-for-2 game. DJ White had two RBI while going 0-for-1 with a walk and Johnson earned three RBI and a run while finishing 0-for-2 with a walk.

Dalton Ash secured the win with five strikeouts in four shutout innings while allowing just one hit and no walks.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Minor got on the board first thanks to an RBI groundout and two runs off an error in the top of the first, which put them up 3-0.

Calera responded in the bottom half of the frame when a one-out walk and passed ball put Johnson on second for Ash. He singled to center for the Eagles’ first run.

White then got hit by a pitch to put two on for Brown, who doubled on the first pitch he saw to clear the bases and tie the game at 3-3.

Four walks in the next five at-bats kept the inning alive long enough for Brown to score on a passed ball and Preston Fulton to come home off a wild pitch, taking the lead to 7-3 at the end of the first after trailing 3-0 in the middle of the frame.

The Tigers responded with an RBI double and a run off a passed ball in the top of the second to slash the deficit to 6-5.

However, more Minor miscues set up two Calera runners to score off wild pitches and extend the lead back out to 8-5.

While the next third inning came and went without a run, the Eagles went to work at the plate and used a lead-off single from White to generate RBI doubles from Brown and Parker Breeding, making the lead 10-5 in the process.

Calera then benefitted from a hit batsman and a walk to start the bottom of the fifth as Ash hit an RBI single to make it an 11-5 game. While the next batter struck out, Brown came up with another RBI double to plate two runs and increase the lead to 13-5.

After Breeding singled to keep the run going, errors on the next two at-bats let a run score on each of them and finished off the 15-5 win thanks to the run rule.

Brown went 3-for-4 with five RBI and three runs to lead the offense. Ash went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.

White earned the win by pitched two shutout innings in the third and fourth, earning three strikeouts against two walks and a hit.

The Eagles will put their 5-0 record to the test in a doubleheader against the Helena Huskies and Oak Grove Tigers on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 11 a.m. at Helena High School.