Coach Brian McCorkle’s Bainbridge Middle School Bearcats baseball team improved their record to 12-3 with a 17-0 shutout victory over the Miller County Middle School Pirates on Monday in Colquitt, Ga.

Bo Phillips, Matthew Green and Ty Varnum combined for a two hit shutout. Phillips hurled the first three innings and picked up his fourth victory. He gave up just two hits and struck out four. Green pitched a scoreless fourth and Varnum pitched a scoreless fifth.

The young Bearcats took command early, rallying for three runs in the top of the first inning.
Drew Leverette walked to lead off the inning and Jimmy Nix beat out an infield bunt. Carson Inlow drove in both runners with a single to left and came in to score the inning’s third run himself on a ground out by Noah Bryant.

The Bearcats added six runs in the top of the third inning to increase their lead to 9-0. The first six batters in the inning all scored.

Nix walked to lead off the inning and Inlow, Bryant, Phillips and Keith Lyle followed with four singles before first baseman Ty Varnum smacked a single to left, driving in Phillips and Lyle. Varnum came home on a Leverette ground out.

The Bearcats added their 10th run in the fourth inning. Carson Harrell drew a walk and came in on a two-out single to center by Russell Wheeler.

The Bearcats’ final seven runs were scored in the fifth and final inning. Andre Jackson led off with a single and Clarke Wiggins was hit by a pitch.

The big blow of the inning was a two-run double to right-center by Matthew Green. Tyler Beaty also drove in a run when he muscled an RBI single to left, after fighting off four two-strike pitches. Jackson and Wiggins also drove in runs in the inning.