Bees Sweet as Honey in Opener

The win, which came in SCAD’s home opener, improved the Bees record to 4-0 on the young season against a team that has traditionally had SCAD’s number as the 24-7 mark against the Bees would attest.

The Barons would not be adding to that win total this afternoon, as Miller (1-0) established command of his pitches early in the contest. Matching goose-egg for goose-egg against Brewton-Parker starter Derek Webb, it actually looked as if Miller would be the one to blink first.

After breezing through the Barons lineup the first time around, Miller found himself in a bit of a jam as Brewton-Parker planted runners on first and third as designated hitter Kyle Smith stood in with ambitions of denting the scoreboard with the game’s first run. Instead, Miller, as he had done so many times as a standout pitcher for Jenkins High School here in Savannah, reached back for something extra and struck out Smith swinging to end the threat.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 6th, when SCAD put together a rally against Webb. After the first two Bees were retired quietly, Matt Cox and John-Michael Crawford laced back-to-back singles to set the table. Patrick Braswell quickly delivered, lacing a shot to third to drive in the games first run. As senior Adam Honeycutt strode to the plate, SCAD’s hottest hitter was poised to deliver the game’s biggest blow. As Honeycutt dug in, Bees head coach Doug Wollenburgh rolled the dice and sent the two runners in motion on the first pitch. With the element of surprise clearly on their side, Cox and Crawford advanced ninety-feet on the double steal and waited for Honeycutt to deliver.

They didn’t have to wait for long as the veteran fought off an inside fastball and muscled a ground ball to second base, allowing Cox to trot home with the second run of the inning. SCAD finished off the stanza with a scorching RBI single to left by first baseman Michael Imbriale to make the score 3-0.

The Barons could do nothing against SCAD reliever Steven Shackleford, who was almost perfect for 2 1/3 innings. In the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded, Wollenburg went to his ace, summoning the versatile Honeycutt from behind the plate to close out the game, which he did with an overpowering strikeout of the only batter he faced to earn his second save of the young season.