McClure Powers Westlake Past MLK

Terry McClure set the pace early on and his teammates on the baseball team easily kept the pace as the Lions blitzed visiting Martin Luther King, 10-0, in Friday’s Region 2-AAAAA season finale at the Lions Den. 

McClure blasted a two-run homerun in the first inning as the hosts jumped ahead and never looked back in breezing to the Senior Day victory that assured their second consecutive state tournament appearance next week and just the school’s third ever. Westlake (17-9) will face either North Cobb or Hillgrove next Friday. 

"It feels great," Lions coach Jerome Walton said. "I'm so excited. Any time you get the chance to let the seniors go out with the state tournament, it's always great." 

Walton might have McClure to thank in large measure. 

The promising sophomore wasted little time in dictating the game’s outcome, powering a Brandon Baker offering over the right center field fence for a towering two-run home-run just three batters into the contest. McClure finished the game 3-for-3 with five RBIs to pace the winners. 

"He's the truth," Walton said. "There's no other way I can put it. He's got a bright future in baseball. Once he hit that home-run, everything seemed to go our way."

That was plenty enough offense for Westlake pitchers Jerovic Dumas and Khalil Stinson, who combined to hurl five innings of no-hit baseball en route to the shutout.

Dumas notched the victory after started the game before tiring and giving way to Stinson in the fifth inning. Stinson coolly slammed the door shut on any slim hopes the visitors may have entertained of climbing back into the game when he worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning without surrendering a run. 

MLK managed just two hits to start the sixth inning to break up the no-hit bid, but couldn’t muster anything off else Stinson in finishing with more errors (three) than hits for the game. 

Senior shortstop Allen Hardy led a solid Westlake defense that made every play it was supposed to in throttling the MLK attack. Hardy added a double with the bases loaded in the sixth to help the hosts register three more runs in the inning to have the umpires invoke the mercy rule and end the game prematurely.  Hardy finished 2-for-3 on the day with an RBI. 

"Anytime we get good pitching," Walton said, "They're really trying to play defense. We tell 'em they have to try to help their pitcher." 

Mission accomplished. Next up is the state tournament. 

"We're excited," Walton said. "We just have to go out, play good baseball and do the things we do best."