By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
It may be the mark of a good team that it can win its seventh and eighth games in a row and the head coach not be all that happy.
The Jacksonville Red Devils swept Mountain Home on Wednesday afternoon to improve to 6-2 in the 6A East Conference and capture their eighth consecutive win.
“We didn’t play all that well in the first game,” head coach Larry Burrows said. “We walked too many. But you’re not going to play your best every time out.”
Jacksonville won 10-4 in the opener and cruised to a 12-2 win in the nightcap. Noah Sanders, coming off a no-hit performance, struggled to find the plate in the first game, but Michael Lamb came on in relief and settled things down.
“He came in and threw strikes and got the win,” Burrows said. “He got a double-play ball and then pitched a 1-2-3 inning. You could see us relax.”
Another good thing to come out of the game was the return of Michael Harmon, who has been out since the Searcy series back on March 10. Harmon appeared not to have much rust, striking out five of the six he faced.
Nick Rodriguez was 3 of 4 with a home run, while Terrell Brown had two hits and two RBI. Logan Perry added two hits and two stolen bases.
Seth Tomboli struck out seven in four one-hit innings to win the nightcap. Patrick Castleberry had a home run and two RBI, while Rodriguez continued his solid hitting by going 2 of 3 with three RBI. Brown also had a pair of hits and two RBI.
Jacksonville improved to 11-5 overall, and will host Parkview on Tuesday.
