By DAN HOEHNE
daniel.hoehne@newssun.com
It's still early, but the Red Devils of the baseball diamond are already on a roll, winning three times this week to get out to a 6-0 start.
Tuesday saw a 4-1 home win over Hardee behind an Anthony Carruthers two-run double and seven shining innings for Kenny McGrath.
The southpaw McGrath scattered four hits, allowed just one run while walking three and striking out five.
A first-inning explosion paved the way to Thursday's 10-5 win over the Miners of Ft. Meade with the Devils sending 14 batters to the plate in their first at-bat.
Josh Gomez got it started with a walk and moved to third on an Alfred Brown single to right.
Brown stole second and both runners came in on a Tyrone Perry single to right.
Anthony Carruthers walked and one out later Torri Pringle walked to load the bases.
Luis Martinez and Colton Brock then added RBI singles and Gomez and Brown drew walks to push two more runs across.
Perry then pounded a bases-clearing double into the left-center field gap to give him five RBI in the inning and put the Devils up 9-0.
The Miners answered with two in their half of the first off Avon Park starter Austin Stadie, and scored two more in the third.
But the Devils added another in the fourth and Gio Gomez pitched the final four innings, allowing just one more run to provide for the final margin.
And while Perry was the demolition man Thursday, it was a more rounded offensive effort Friday that got Avon Park an 8-2 win at McKeel Academy.
The Red Devils were held down over the first three innings and the hosts scratched for on in the second for a 1-0 lead headed into the fourth.
But Perry started another mini-explosion with a double down the right-field line.
Carruthers knocked him in with a double to left-center and Steven Flowers bunted Carruthers to third.
Pringle then singled to bring him in and Mason Jahna later doubled to score Pringle and would come around himself on a Colton Brock single to put the Devils up 4-1.
McKeel edged a little closer with a run in the sixth, but Avon Park answered back again with another four-spot in the top of the seventh.
Cody Pearlman lead it off with a single and moved up on a Brown base-knock.
One out later, Perry and Carruthers drew back-to-back walks with Pearlman coming in on a wild pitch.
Flowers brought a run in with a single and Pringle reached on an error to bring two more in.
In all, five different Devils had an RBI, seven scored run and all but one starter had at least one hit.
Flowers and Brock combined on the mound to give up just two hits, two earned runs and struck out four.
Looking to keep things rolling, Avon Park has a three-game homestand coming up this week with Frostproof at Head Field on Tuesday, McKeel in Thursday and Ridge Community on Friday.
Sunday, February 24, 2013 - www.newssun.com/SUN-2-24-13-APBaseball