The North DeKalb Senior All-Stars ran their win streak to five games over the South DeKalb All-Stars with a 5-2 victory in the ninth annual DeKalb County Senior All-Star Baseball Classic at Druid Hills’ John Devore Field on Thursday night.
The North trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth after Columbia’s Quinnteon Osby went from first to home when a hit by Miller Grove’s Uwem Udofia was misplayed in right field.
Chamblee’s Knox Maslia and Stephen Gaulden drew consecutive walks with one out in the bottom half of the fourth inning from South pitcher Andre Wilson of Southwest DeKalb. The pair then completed a double steal and Maslia scored as the throw to third went into left field. Gaulden scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball to give the North a slim 3-2 lead.
The game remained 3-2 until the seventh inning when Lakeside’s Bradley Dennis opened with a single, stole second and scored on a ground out to first by Stone Mountain’s Zachary Horton to extend the lead to 4-2. Clarkston’s Darius McGuire drove in Will Bracewell in the eighth for an insurance run and the 5-2 final score.
Stephenson’s Jordan Tarver gave the South an early 1-0 lead with a ground out to the right side to score Redan’s Mason Davis who opened the game with a single. Druid Hills’ pitcher James Ridgeway got out of a jam with a pair of strikeouts to end the inning with no more damage done.
The North tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom half of the second inning as Maslia stole home on a double steal attempt.
Maslia finished the day at 2-2 with two walks to reach base in all four plate appearances, stole two bases and scored two runs to earn the North Most Valuable Player trophy. The Chamblee senior also caught all nine innings. Chamblee’s Anthony Brown was 2-3 at the plate as the only other multiple hitter for the North.
Lakeside’s Will Bracewell pitched three innings of relief to pick up the win while Chamblee’s Joe Albertson pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth innings to get the save.
Miller Grove’s Uwem Udofia earned the South MVP award as he finished 2-4 at the plate and pitched two solid innings allowing just one hit, one run and two walks while striking out two.
Southwest DeKalb’s Andre Wilson was a hard luck losing pitcher after giving up two unearned runs, striking out four and walking three in three innings in relief of starter John Bryant of Arabia Mountain.
2011 All-Star Notes
*--Chamblee’s Joe Albertson who earned a save in two innings of scoreless relief for the North earned just the fifth save in 15 Senior All-Star games since 2003. He also was the winning pitcher in the North’s Junior All-Star win in 2010.
*--Lakeside’s Will Bracewell who was the winning pitcher for the North also pitched one inning of relief in the North’s 2010 Junior All-Star win.
*--Arabia Mountain’s John Bryant earned his second consecutive All-Star game as the starting pitcher. He pitched three innings of the 2011 Senior game for the South after pitching the first three innings for the South in the 2010 Junior Game.
*--Dunwoody’s Mason Wood completed an All-Star game double by stealing a base in both the 2011 Senior game and the 2010 Junior game.
*--Chamblee’s Knox Maslia stole two bases in the 2011 Senior game to tie for the lead with 16 others for most stolen bases in one game.