Over the past two winters, the National Hockey League has held to outdoor games at baseball parks, notably Wrigley Field in Chicago and Fenway Park in Boston.
For a few moments on Monday, a spectator could be forgiven if they thought the Mortimer Jordan baseball field was about to play host to another NHL Winter Classic.
Brittle cold weather and snow showers aside, the Blue Devils and Oak Grove opened their 2010 seasons by splitting a President’s Day doubleheader, with the Tigers edging out a 10-9 win in the first game and Jordan taking the second by a 14-7 score.
The shivering temperatures were not enough to cool off Devils’ first baseman Jamey Hammock, who knocked a single, a double and a towering two-run home run in the opener.
“That was the first home run I’ve hit that I had no doubt about it when it left the bat,” Hammock said.
The fifth-inning blast over the 315-foot marker down the left field line nearly hit a pickup truck, where a spectator had settled in to watch the game from outside the fences.
The Tigers did most of their damage in the second inning, in which they hit for a “team cycle” — a single (actually two), a double, a triple by pitcher Justin Bartley and a homer by left fielder Sam Ledbetter.
Jordan had taken an early lead with a three-run first inning, led off by a double by center fielder Justin Grooms, who was 3-for-5 for the game.
Hammock’s two-run homer cut the Tiger lead to 9-7 after five, but Oak Grove scored a single run when Bartley singled, stole second base and came home on a Ledbetter single.
That run proved to be the difference, as Jordan go to a tiring Bartley with three walks and two hits. But with two outs and two men on, the rally came up short when a simple grounder to second was handled cleanly for the final out.
Starting pitcher Austin Nabers was knocked out after allowing seven runs in two innings, and was tagged with the loss.
In the nightcap, the Devils survived a six-run fifth inning by Oak Grove with four runs each in the fifth and sixth, propelling them to a 14-7 victory.
Jordan got only 11 base hits behind those 14 runs, benefitting from three Tiger errors and ten bases on balls.
Skylar Myrick had a double and drew three walks, and scored every time he reached base. Jesse Stanley drove in four runs. Junior catcher Braden Glass was 2-for-3 and had 3 RBIs.
Stanley got the win with a two-inning stint in relief of freshman starter Orion Recke, who was bounced during the Tigers’ six-run rally.
The doubleheader begins a busy two weeks for Jordan. They have three straight doubleheaders starting Thursday at Curry, followed by Cleveland on Friday and Oneonta Saturday at home. They open the Jefferson County Tournament on Monday by hosting arch-rival Gardendale, the first of five games on consecutive days.
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Related Photos
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CRANKIN' IT: Blue Devils first bseman Jamey Hammock yanks a shot well over the left field fence and onto the entrance road for a nearby cemetery during the first game of Mortimer Jordan's President's Day doubleheader with Oak Grove. Hammock had a single, double and homer in the 10-9 loss. Robert Carter
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