Cairo whips T’ville Monday

Cairo  whips Thomasville
on the mound
You wouldn’t know the Cairo Syrupmakers and Thomasville Bulldogs were playing on their first day of spring break as frigid temperatures and a howling wind straight out of the north forced fans to bundle up in several layers of clothing and break out the blankets Monday night.
However, despite the falling thermometer, the 7-1 victory over Thomasville High School was sweet, coming off a close loss to Peach County two days earlier, but the victory took on another special meaning as well. With the victory, second year head baseball coach Ron Best picked up his 200th career win. Best was presented a plaque by the team at home plate after the game and awarded the game ball.
The memorable event caught Best by surprise. “I don’t really keep up with that sort of stuff so it was a great surprise to receive the plaque recognizing the wins,” said Best.
The Cairo coach was even more pleased with how his team responded after their first region loss on Saturday to Peach County. “You never know how a team will respond after a loss, but I thought our guys came right back and did a good job. That’s the good thing about baseball, you don’t have to wait too long to get back out there,” said Best.
Cairo’s Hugh Russell Lee picked up the win on the mound, pitching a complete game. “That was big for us, we needed a complete game out of him. While we’re playing four games in five days, to get that type of performance now was tremendous,” Best said.
Lee gave up one run in the fourth, struck out five, allowed no walks, and scattered five hits. Lee also helped the Makers at the plate with a single, and scored a run.
The Makers scored one run in the third, five in the fifth, and one more in the sixth. Trey Kimmel was 3-4 in the leadoff spot with two doubles. J.J. Wilcox was 3-4 with three singles, and scored a run. Alex Russell was 2-3 with a run-scoring triple, and he also scored a run for the Makers. Bradley Jones went 2-4, had an RBI and scored two runs, and Tracy Asbell entered the lineup in the fifth and singled as well.
Cairo is now 11-3 overall and took on Westover on Tuesday in Albany before taking the rest of the week off for spring break.