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Another sweep

• The South Georgia Peanuts win for the 15th time in 16 games in South Coast League action.

Paul Dehner Jr.

ALBANY — Enough with the dramatics, back to blowouts.

One night after the South Georgia Peanuts notched their first walk-off win of the season, they got back to the business of ending games early.

The Peanuts piled up 19 hits Wednesday night and the game was never in jeopardy in completing a sweep of the Anderson Joes, 11-5, at Paul Eames Park in front of 2,300 fans, the second largest crowd of the season.

During the current six-game homestand, the Peanuts are undefeated and have outscored opponents 68-20.

“It’s fun to watch,” said Jasha Balcom, who tallied four hits for the second consecutive night. “Guys were squaring up the baseball. Guys were picking each other up. One guy doesn’t get on base, someone else does.”

The Peanuts (30-9) have now won 15 of their last 16 games and move the magic number for clinching a first-half title to three since second place Macon topped Aiken.

The hero of Tuesday’s game, Doc Brooks, again accepted that role and created early fireworks during the Independence Day contest.

He hit a three-run home run and walk-off single to deliver a come-from-behind victory Tuesday and proceeded to go 4-for-5 with three doubles, four RBI and a run scored Wednesday.

But unlike the previous evening when he drove in four of the Peanuts‚ five runs, he was joined by nearly every teammate Wednesday.

Every starter except for newly acquired Ramon Downing had a hit in the contest.

That was the most gratifying element of the win for skipper Wally Backman.

The loss of Steve Garrabrants, signed by the Boston Red Sox organization before the game, will force role players to pick up the slack his .364 average and 32 RBI produced. Backman met with the team before the game about filling the gap and returning to an aggressive style of baseball.

“Contributions from everyone (Wednesday), I think was huge,” he said. “I want to get back to our running game, hit-and-run.”

Filling in directly for Garrabrants was catcher Nick Prosise. Moved up to the three-spot in the order, Prosise was more than adequate in his first audition, tallying three hits, three runs scored and three RBI.

“You know things are going good when a lot of the hits we don’t hit that hard are falling in,” said Prosise. “I don’t think I hit the ball hard once all night. That’s baseball, you take the good with the bad.”

It was good for Leesburg native Kyle Keen who added three hits playing left field in place of Garrabrabnts while Brandon Woolard contributed a two-RBI single in the sixth inning that added a total of three insurance runs to what already was a 5-1 lead.

Dumas Garcia got the start for South Georgia and went six innings, allowing two runs while striking out three.

He earned the win and is now 6-1 on the year. Since moving from the bullpen to the starting rotation and losing his first start, Garcia has won six times in six starts.

The Peanuts play a doubleheader tonight against the Bradenton Juice. Shannon Wirth starts the first game and Mike Colacchio the second.

It is the beginning of a five-game series that will include another doubleheader Friday. After a single game Saturday, the first half of the season will come to an end. While South Georgia currently holds a three-game lead on first place, it will play a game Sunday if necessary to clinch the title over the Music.

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