Drey Barrett’s first home run of his senior season could not have come at a better time.
Leading off in Holtville’s first Class 5A, Area 7 game last week against Jemison, Barrett launched a 1-0 pitch straight away to center field to put Holtville up, 1-0.
Barrett’s home run sparked a four-run first inning and helped lead Holtville to a double-header sweep, 16-0 and 8-0, and clinched a playoff berth for the defending Class 5A state champions.
In the two games, Barrett went 4-for-6 with a home run and six RBIs. He also pitched Game 2 of the double header and struck out 13 batters in five innings of work.
For his efforts in helping the Bulldogs get back into the postseason, Barrett is the Elmore County Player of the Week.
“We put him in the leadoff spot so we could try and get a spark going,” Bulldogs coach Scott Tubbs said. “When he started the game with a bomb, everybody said ‘Here we go.’ Hitting is contagious and when you start a game like that, it gets contagious really quick.”
In Game 1, Holtville won 16-0 in what was Holtville’s highest scoring game of the season. Barrett hit leadoff in the game, and he scored a run for every single at-bat. Following his home run, he was walked on five pitches. After going first to third on a single, he scored on a Gage Nelson groundout to go up, 5-0.
His third plate appearance resulted in a single to left field. After a stolen base and wild pitch, he scored on a Nelson RBI single. After batting around in the inning, he hit a two-run single up the middle and then came around to score on a bases-loaded walk a few batters later.
He didn’t score in Game 2, but he did drive in three runs. Up 1-0, he hit a two-run single to left field in the second inning then hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning to cap the scoring at 8-0.
On the mound, he walked two batters but struck out 13 of the 21 batters he faced. He threw 81 total pitches, 53 of which were strikes.
“He’s starting to find his stride at the plate a little bit,” Tubbs said. “The bigger the game, the better he swings it. He’s a little more focused when it comes to area games. I knew early in the week he would have a good week. You can see his focus changing. On the mound, he was lights out as well. He hadn’t been like that on the mound yet either.”
For Holtville, the double-header sweep clinched a playoff berth and put the Bulldogs in the race for an area championship. This week, Holtville and rival Marbury meet for a three-game series. Marbury is currently the No. 1-ranked Class 5A team by Maxpreps and the No. 6-ranked 5A team by Prep Baseball Report.
Barrett and the Bulldogs seem to be heating up at the right time, as the 16 runs was the most this year and the 8-0 win was the 10th time Holtville has reached eight runs in a game this year.
“We have to take care of ourselves,” Tubbs said. “Marbury is coached well and they’re playing well. They’re winning ball games, and a team that believes they can win is tough. What we have working for us is the fact that we’ve been in these big games over and over again the last three years.”
