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Joes Take it Early

August 1, 2007 - South Coast League (SCL)
Anderson Joes News Release


For the first time all season, the Joes won back-to-back games against the South Georgia Peanuts, using a team-record 11 runs to defeat the league's first-place team, 11-2, in front of 709 at Anderson Memorial Stadium on Wednesday.

The Joes scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning and would not look back in their historic batting bonanza.

Anderson (9-11, 22-43 overall) batted around in the second, scoring its first two runs of the inning on back-to-back singles by Desi Wilson and Tanner Rogers. South Georgia (13-6, 46-17) committed two throwing errors on Rogers' single, allowing both he and Wilson to score on the same play.

Then, the onslaught commenced. Four singles and a squeeze bunt brought three more runners across before Blake Gailen pulled his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, over the right field wall to cap the inning and hand the Joes a 6-0 lead.

"I'm not necessarily known for the power, but I've got it in me," the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Gailen said. "I was just looking for something to drive right there and I got it."

Their next time up, the Joes offense started the third inning with a single, double, RBI sacrifice fly and walk before Rafael Diaz' two-run double extended Anderson's lead to 9-0. The Joes later received a solo home run from Richard Quihuis-Bell in the fifth inning and an RBI single from Steve Pearson in the eighth.

Pearson's hit was his first as a Joe, and it drove in the record-setting 11th run. Anderson's offense eclipsed previous 10-run games against the Aiken Foxhounds on May 24 and June 29.

Every starting position player for the Joes scored at least once, including Wilson, Rogers and Noles, who each scored twice. Anderson received RBI from six different players, with Quihuis-Bell, Gailen and Diaz each contributing two.

Not to be overlooked, starting pitcher Dallas Mahan shut down the league's leading offense to just one run through seven innings, allowing eight hits and no walks while striking out three. He improved to 2-0 in just his second start of the season.

Shannon Wirth took the loss for South Georgia, dropping to 8-2. Wirth, who entered second in the league in wins and had a 2.59 ERA, allowed nine runs, six earned, in just 2.1 innings -- ballooning his ERA to 3.51.

Anderson finished the series with consecutive wins against South Georgia, only the fifth time all season a team has taken two in a row against the Peanuts and now the sixth time the Joes have won a series this season.

The Joes welcome the Aiken Foxhounds to Anderson Memorial Stadium for a three-game series beginning Thursday, the last meetings between the intrastate rivals this season.

Last time the Foxhounds came to Anderson, the Joes took a three-game sweep to end the month of June.

Now, they aim to get back to .500 against a Foxhounds team that will enter on a three-game losing streak.

"It sends a message to everybody paying attention: We are not a team that's just going to roll over," Gailen said. "I think we're going to end up being a team to be reckoned with. ... We're looking to win not only every series, but win every game."

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