Baseball: Blake Hickman’s bomb, Shane Brown’s arm lead Simeon past Young

Updated: May 9, 2012 7:41PM

Blake Hickman had a bloody band-aid covering his throat from an injury that sidelined him for 11 games. But it was Hickman and pitcher Shane Brown that did all the damage for Simeon.

The Wolverines picked up a 7-2 victory over Jackie Robinson South-rival Young. Brown held the host Dolphins’ bats down while Hickman finally awakened his.

‘‘The big man is back,’’ Simeon coach Leroy Franklin said of Hickman. ‘‘When he got hurt, we missed his leadership back there. He really looked good.’’

Hickman hit a three-run blast to the deepest part of the ballpark in straight-away center. The ball cleared the fence easily and catapulted the Wolverines (20-7, 10-2) to a 6-1 lead.

‘‘I’m fine,’’ Hickman said of his band-aid. ‘‘I was just sitting dead-red on that one and it came right down the middle.’’

Hickman was playing in just his third game back from an injury where he caught a ball in the throat. He had yet to regain his hitting form until this game. He went 1-for-3 with a line-out, a hard hit double-play ball and was later hit by a pitch.

‘‘As soon as he hit it, I knew it was gone,’’ Brown said. ‘‘That ball cleared the fence by thirty feet easily.’’

Brown (6-2) had full command of his pitches and the game. He carried a perfect game into the fourth before finally conceding a walk to lead-off hitter Eugene Tabb. Tabb came around to score on an RBI double by Terrance Sumerlin for Young (19-11, 8-5).

Brown pitched a complete game allowing three hits and one earned run while striking out 10 and walking only one.

‘‘I don’t have great speed on my fastball,’’ Brown said. ‘‘I’m consistently around 85 mph but I’m sneaky quick.’’

Tabb (4-1) was chased from the game by Hickman’s home-run but allowed only one earned run through 4.2 innings. His defense committed three costly errors that Simeon made Young pay for.

Marshawn Taylor had a triple and a double and two RBI for the Wolverines. Ronnell Coleman scored three runs from the lead-off spot.

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