Stansel, Jinks pitch Woodland past Paulding County in doubleheader sweep

Woodland swept a Region 7-AAAAA doubleheader Wednesday against Paulding County in games played at LakePoint in Emerson. The Wildcats took the two wins 5-0 and 13-1 to take a huge stride forward in the region playoff race.

In the opener playing as the visiting team, Woodland scored two runs in the first and three more in the seventh to support Koby Stansel’s one hitter.

Stansel walked one and struck out five for the complete game win. He did work around four hit batsmen. Jacob Harper had the only Paulding County hit with a single in the second inning.

The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead in the first inning without the benefit of a hit. Garrett Cornett was hit by a pitch and Stansel walked with one out. Following a groundout, the two base runners scored when Marco Haro reached on a ground ball error by the Paulding County third baseman.

Four straight walks gave Woodland a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning and a two-RBI line drive single by Stansel made the score 5-0.

Dylan Webb had two hits in Game 1. Stansel and Toby Queen had the other Woodland hits.

In Game 2, the Wildcats pounded out a dozen hits and scored in all four offensive frames for a 12-run win in five innings

Kenny Jinks earned the complete game pitching victory for Woodland. The lone Patriots’ run was unearned on four hits and three walks. Jinks fanned nine.

Woodland scored four runs in the first inning, added seven more in the second inning, and scored single runs in the third and fourth frames.

Queen drove in three runs with a pair of hits. Haro had three hits including a pair of doubles and one RBI. Cornett had two hits including a triple and one RBI. Bailey Ward contributed two hits and one RBI. Titus Jones (RBI), Chris Mills (RBI), and Bryce Evans added one hit each. Tyler Dilcher and Jordan Lee had one RBI.

With the losses, Paulding County falls to 7-16 overall and 2-10 in region play.

Woodland (13-11, 6-4) currently holds the fourth place spot in Region 7-AAAAA. The Wildcats are one game behind Kell and Rome. Those two teams are currently tied for second place in region action at 6-2.

Woodland returns to the diamond Monday when they host Kell at 5:55 p.m.