After two straight losses in the annual Robeson County Slugfest, the Red Springs High School Red Devils baseball team snapped back into winning form, beating their cross-county rivals, the Cougars of Flora Macdonald Academy, in a doubleheader last Tuesday (April 21) evening at Tom Cope Memorial Park.

The games had been postponed from earlier in the season due to inclement weather.

In the first game, the Red Devils shut out FMA, 10-0; and chalked up a 15-0 win in the second, allowing only two hits, one in each game.

The two wins upped the Red Devils season record with several games still remaining on the 2009 schedule.

Red Devils head coach Bryan McDonald was pleased with his team’s efforts and especially proud of his pitching staff.

We got two win (tonight),” said Coach McDonald. “I was pleased with my pitching. Offensively, we’re obviously going to see better pitching down the road. Defensively, we didn’t have a whole lot of playes, but we did what we had to do.”

McDonald saw the wins as a possible momentum shift, heading into the late part of the regular season with state playoffs as a goal.

“Well, we hope,” said McDonald. “We said when we got off the bus, coming home from the Slugfest, that we’ve got to get this thing turned around to have a shot at making the (State) playoffs. That’s our goal now and that is to get ourselves in the playoffs. We’re not real bad and we’ve got a shot. We’ll see what happens. If (Jeffery) McNeill and (Cody) Lowery pitches the way they did tonight, then we’ll have a chance.”

Lose to Fairmont

The Red Devils traveled to Fairmont Thursday for a rematch with the Golden Tornadoes after losing to them in the first round of the annual Robeson County Slugfest.

Red Springs suffered the same result, losing the Southeastern Conference baseball game by a score of 12-2. Barnhill tossed a no-hitter for Fairmont.

With the score knotted at one run apiece in the second inning, Fairmont scored four runs in the bottom half of the inning and never looked back. Lowery took the loss for the Red Devils (6-10).

Track teams finish second in SEC meets

The Red Springs High School boys’ and girls’ track team traveled to St. Pauls Thursday afternoon for a quadrangular Southeastern Conference meet and came home with two second place finishes.

St. Pauls won the boys’ meet with 138 points, followed by the Red Devils with 41, West Bladen 33 and Fairmont 13.

In individuals events, the Red Devils’ 3,200m-relay team won in a time of 10:09, while Haywood won the 400m in a time of 53:95.

The Lady Red Devils scored 53 points and fell to winner St. Pauls, racking up 120 poins. West Bladen and Fairmont did not score.

Lady Red Devils’ senior Brittany Bethea took home first places in the shot put with a toss of 29-10; and the discus, with a toss of 68-5. McDonald won the 800m in a time of 3:22 for Red Springs.