Jared Allen paces Tennessee romp

photo Tennessee's Scotty Moses, top, of McMinn Central, leaps over Georgia's Brandon Blome, of Adairsville, at second base Monday during the annual Tennessee-Georgia All-Star Baseball Game at AT&T Field. Blome was out before the near miss.

Tennessee-Georgia all-star game

TENNESSEE 18, GEORGIA 4Tennessee 112 331 403 - 18 15 1Georgia 003 010 000 - 4 5 4WP: Tyler Garner. LP: Alex Ridge. 3B: Jared Allen (T). 2B: Allen, James Fowlkes, Tyler Lee (T). Highlights: Allen 4-4, BB, 4 RBIs, 2 runs; Will Cooper 2-4, 2 SBs, 3 runs (T). Record: Tennessee leads series 9-1.

Tennessee set a record for runs scored and Jared Allen tied a record with four hits, and his four RBIs set a record in a 20-4 victory Monday night in the 10th annual Tennessee-Georgia all-star baseball game at AT&T Field.

Allen, the Best of Preps male athlete and all-area baseball player of the year, went 4-for-4 with a triple, a double and two singles. He also walked once.

"I guess that was a pretty good showing," said the University of Tennessee signee from Polk County. "It's something to be proud of. That last [at-bat] I thought I had gotten it out, but I hit it to the wrong part of the ballfield."

That hit was a towering shot into the right-center power alley. The ball bounced just shy of the wall and skipped over it.

"Jared's a great player, a great kid," said Tennessee all-stars coach David Dinger, who announced his resignation as Lookout Valley's coach late last month. "But I think he's a better kid than he is a player. He's the kind of kid you want on your team and in your dugout."

Allen, a four-year starter at Polk County, was named the game's MVP. But because of the talent surrounding him, he wasn't surprised at Tennessee securing its ninth win in 10 games in the series.

"Once I saw who all was here to play, I wasn't going to be surprised," Allen said. "We had a great lineup. It's hard to come by better teams."

Baylor's Will Cooper, who's Vanderbilt-bound, was named Tennessee player of the game after going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, three runs scored and two stolen bases. He and Allen led a 15-hit attack.

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"Games like this are a lot of fun to coach because of the kids," Dinger said. "We were loaded with talent. The biggest problem was getting all the guys in."

Tennessee's pitching was good, too. Dinger put nine guys on the mound - Brandon Davis (Central), Spencer Crabtree (Meigs County), Tyler Stott (Red Bank), Brad Dotson (Soddy-Daisy), Tyler Garner (Boyd-Buchanan), Hayden Williams (East Hamilton), Hunter Giles (South Pittsburg), Jeb Scoggins (Cleveland) and Ryan Johnson (Soddy-Daisy) - and they limited Georgia to five hits.

Dotson got the win, coming on with the bases loaded and one out and pitching Tennessee out of that mess and then getting a 1-2-3 next inning.

"Dotson came in and pitched very well, but the whole pitching staff did well," Dinger said. "Five hits [allowed] in nine innings is a great night."

Georgia's player of the game was Adairsville's Brandon Blome, who went 1-for-2 and scored a run.

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.

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