DeVore inspires Spartans to victory

Seeking to bounce back from a disheartening Region 8-A loss on Wednesday, Athens Academy pitcher Russ DeVore might have saved the team’s season by text messaging some encouraging words to his teammates on Thursday.

Then he threw a complete game Friday as the Spartans beat visiting Hebron Christian 3-1.

The victory pushed Athens Academy (10-6, 4-5 in Region 8-A) back into contention for a playoff spot and erased bad memories from the Spartans’ 14-1 loss on Wednesday to Towns County, only the second region win of the season for the Indians.

“We needed a turnaround,” DeVore said. “We had our best practice (Thursday). We worked our tails off. I sent a message last night to my teammates saying that we have the talent but we don’t need to be making mistakes. I told them we can beat any team in the region if we play well, but if we don’t we’re going to get beat.”

McKay Matthews scored the first run on a third-inning throwing error. Will Daniel scored the Spartans’ last run on a sixth-inning fielder’s choice. Matthews collected the Spartans’ only RBI when he doubled home James Waugh in the fifth inning. The Spartans finished the game with just six hits.

DeVore allowed five hits and one run with seven strikeouts and two seventh-inning walks to pick up the win. Hebron Christian (13-3, 6-3), is ranked No. 7 in Class A and coming off a 21-run outburst against Prince Avenue Christian on Wednesday.

DeVore knocked Hebron Christian off balance early by jumping ahead in the count and making the Lions swing defensively. When Hebron Christian connected, Athens Academy’s defense minimized the damage.

“Russ kept them off balance, he hit his spots, he changed it up,” Athens Academy coach Casey Kane said. “The most important thing was, he didn’t give them any freebies. So the hits they did have didn’t hurt us.

“It was a huge win for more than just the standings. I couldn’t be more proud of where the guys came from on Wednesday to today. (Hebron Christian is) a great offensive team. We had a tough loss to them at their place by one run, so it’s great to redeem ourselves.”

DeVore’s most anxious moment came partially of his own doing.

He started the seventh by walking the first two batters on eight straight pitches. But he struck out the next batter and induced two consecutive groundouts, giving up one run in the process, to finish the game.

“Somebody in the dugout before we went back out mentioned that I had zero walks,” DeVore said. “I went, ‘Gosh. That was the last thing I wanted to hear.’ It was like somebody saying you have a no-hitter going into the last inning. So I guess I had to make it a little more exciting.”