Lithonia’s Quintez Lucas (left) checks for a throw as Maynard Jackson’s Jack Defoer defends at first base during the 3rd annual DCSD/APS Senior All-Star Baseball Classic at Redan. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The DeKalb County Senior All-Stars scored at least one run in the first five innings, including a four-run fifth, to knock off the Atlanta Public Schools seniors 9-5 on Tuesday night at Redan High School’s Greg Goodwin Field.
A 3-3 tie after a two-run fourth by Atlanta was broken in the bottom of the fourth as DeKalb scored two runs on three consecutive hits in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for good at 5-3.
Dunwoody’s Connor Smith got the inning started with a screamer right back at Atlanta pitcher Kanious Davis (Maynard Jackson). Joshua Westbrook (Redan) and Ryan Hoerner (Druid Hills) followed with back-to-back RBI singles into right field to give DeKalb the lead.
Hoerner stepped to the mound in relief of Smith in the top of the fifth and had runners on second and third with two outs when Carver’s Jordan Ferguson took off for home. Catcher Alton Mamaghani (Dunwoody) applied a tag as Ferguson slid headfirst and got the out to end the inning.
DeKalb responded with a four-run bottom of the fifth to open a 9-3 lead on the back of Mamaghani’s bad-hop single to short to drive in Tyler Sleep (Dunwoody) and a two-out, RBI triple by Tyrell Wyatt (Redan). Dunwoody’s Sam Dale led off the inning and scored the first run after stealing second, third and then home. Redan’s Derek Peoples scored on a wild pitch after walking to load the bases.
Atlanta responded with two runs against Hoerner as he walked Miles Jones (Therrell) and Davis and a wild pitch moved them to third and second respectively to set up the runs. Jack Defoer (Maynard Jackson) and Derrick Handspike (Maynard Jackson) drove in the runs with back-to-back groundouts to short. Hoerner finished off the inning with a strikeout to prevent any further damage.
Jones pitched 1-2-3 inning for Atlanta to get APS back up to bat for the last time in the top of the seventh inning.
Dunwoody’s Sam Dale got two quick outs before issuing a walk to Ferguson before ending the game with a strikeout.
DeKalb scored a run in the first as Donovan White’s groundout scored Peoples and another in the second on the first of Hoerner’s two RBI singles. Hoerner’s hit plated Westbrook who had tripled with one away.
Most Valuable Player awards went to APS’ Derrick Handspike (Maynard Jackson) and DeKalb’s Ryan Hoerner (Druid Hills) at the third annual DCSD/APS Senior Baseball All-Star Classic won 9-5 by DeKalb. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Atlanta cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the third as Angel Marroquin (Carver) doubled and scored on a two-out RBI single by Davis.
DeKalb got the run back in the bottom half of the inning to go back up 3-1 on White’s RBI single to score Sleep.
A pair of errors let Atlanta’s Defoer get on base and score and Jaycob Lindsey singled to score Handspike who had walked and stolen second and third. Smith picked up his third strikeout in two innings on the mound to keep the game tied at 3-3 heading to bottom of fourth.
DeKalb pitching limited Atlanta to just four hits on the day while the DeKalb offense collected 10 hits.
Ryan Hoerner picked up the DeKalb MVP award with his 2-3 and two RBI at the plate and two innings in relief on the mound. Joshua Westbrook finished 2-3 with a triple, RBI and two runs scored for DeKalb. Dunwoody’s Tyler Sleep pitched two scoreless innings in the start for DeKalb and added a 1-1 day at the plate with runs scored.
Derrick Handspike finished 1-2 on the day with an RBI and three stolen bases to lead Atlanta and cart home the MVP trophy.
See links below for DCSD/APS All-Star Box Score and records: