Offense, McCurry lead Indians to victory in first game of Cougars series

The East Coweta bats provided the offense with 13 hits while Zack McCurry did his part on the mound  Tuesday at Joe Pope Field as the  Indians defeated the Newnan Cougars 12-1 in the first game of their Region 3-AAAAAA series.
The win improves the overall record to 20-1 and 10-0 in the region for the Indians as they will host the Cougars (16-4, 9-1) Thursday night in Sharpsburg.
McCurry and Cougars starter Thomas Sumner were locked in a scoreless battle through the first three innings of the game when the Indians broke through in the top of the fourth inning with a pair of runs.
Bryce Gemmel led off with a single and advanced to second when a ball hit by Cole Antmann was mishandled before Jonathan Banks hit a bloop single to right field that brought him home.
After Geremy Walton singled to load the bases, Matthew Meyer hit a deep flyball to left field that allowed Antmann to come home with the second run of the inning.
In the top of the fifth inning, Cameron Smith led off with a single and went to second on a wild pitch before Gemmel singled.
Smith was waved home as he rounded third but a one hop throw from Charles Reeves in left field for the Cougars made it home and catcher Sam Buchanan was able to apply the tag for the out.
On the play,  Gemmel took second and came home with the inning's lone run as Antmann hit a double to left and after a Banks was hit by a pitch, Cougars head coach Kenny Morris lifted Sumner in favor of Beau Shelnutt.
Meanwhile, McCurry was off to another quality start as he allowed one hit through his first four two-third innings on the mound.
He would run into a hiccup in the bottom of the fifth inning after retiring the first two batters of the frame as he hit pinch hitter Justin Groover who scored the lone run of the game as Devin Henry drilled a triple into right center field.
The Indians broke the game open in the top of the sixth inning as they batted around to score six runs and take a 9-1 lead.
With one out, Blake Lorow and Travis Williams reached on consecutive walks prompting the removal of Shelnutt from the mound in favor of Derrick Nelson.
An infield error allowed Tim Manning to reach first and load the bases for Smith who hit a sacrifice fly to center field allowing courtesy runner Graydon Treadwell to score.
A single by Gemmel scored Williams before Antmann followed with a single of his own for Banks who flirted with the long ball earlier when he hit a ball to center field.
Banks made amends with this at bat as he lined a 1-2 offering from Nelson over the left field fence for a grand slam and the lead was 9-1.
The Cougars tried to cut into the margin in the bottom of the inning as Nelson singled and advanced to second on a throwing error that also allowed Jonathan Swenson to reach first.
However, McCurry would pitch around the mistake as he retired Buchanan on strikes and induced flyballs from Brandon Dawson and Reeves to end the inning.
After the two outs in the top of the seventh inning, the Indians added three more runs as Williams reached on a walk and scored on a double by Manning who came home on a single by Smith.
Smith scored the final run of the evening as Gemmel laced a double into left center field to finish the evening by going 4-for-5 at the plate.
After six innings in which he allowed three hits hit a batter while recording four strikeouts, McCurry would be replaced by Meyer on the mound in the bottom of the seventh and the latter managed to end the game by retiring the side in order.