3A FIRST ROUND: Trinity, Providence Christian split doubleheader

Trinity’s Christopher Bryan and David Michael Lieux celebrate scoring during the first-round series with Providence Christian on Friday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

The second game ended in a five-inning rout, but Providence Christian coach Casey Smith tried to put a positive spin on the loss.

After all, the Eagles were still playing.

“We’re going to go to a game three,” Smith said, “and if you would’ve told us we were going to play Trinity, the No. 1 or No. 2 ranked team, depending on where you look, and get to a game three, we would have taken it. We’ll play tomorrow and see how it goes.” 

Providence stunned the Wildcats 7-0 in the first game before Trinity roared back with a vengeance to capture the second game, 15-3, in a five-inning rout at Whittle-Armstrong Field in the first round of the 3A state playoffs.

The deciding game in the best-of-three series between Trinity (24-5) and Providence Christian (18-11) will be played on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Whittle-Armstrong Field. 

Friday’s doubleheader gave no indication of what to expect from the two teams. In the opener, Providence Christian ace Harrison Mims held the Wildcats to a pair of hits over the first six innings while the Eagles scored five of their seven runs with two-out hits. 

“We hit the ball, we just hit it right at them,” Trinity coach Jarrod Cook said. “And that’s what we told the guys, that’s why this game is so beautiful because it’s going to teach you to grit through some things, work through some things that don’t go your way. And that was just one of those games.”

Mims allowed a first-inning double to Grayson Ashe and a fifth-inning triple to Mac McClinton, but neither one posed a threat as Ashe’s hit came with two outs and McClinton was tagged out after he slid off the bag to lead off the fifth. 

Mims issued a pair of sixth-inning walks with two out, but was relieved by closer Braxton Canady, who threw two strikes to David Michael Lieux to end the threat. 

“That’s their best guy (Mims) and he’s a good one,” Cook said. “We knew what we were getting when we faced him. We put some good at-bats together, we just did some out-of-character things on the bases and made some bad decisions.”

Providence committed four errors in the second game, but was error free behind Mims. 

“We like the way our defense lines up when he’s pitching and he’s always going to give us a chance,” Smith said. “He’s going to compete every single time and I think he showed that tonight, the way he threw.”

In the second game, Trinity was designated as the visiting team and exploded for six runs in the first inning off of Porter Dykes and eight more in the second inning off of Chance Smith, giving Cook an interesting option as Ben Easterling had only thrown a handful of pitches when he walked out to the mound in the second inning with a 14-0 lead.

Because Easterling had not reached the 25-pitch threshold, he could be pulled and used for Saturday’s finale, but Cook elected to keep him on the mound for the remainder of the game. 

Easterling only allowed one hit in each of the five innings and two earned runs -- both on solo home runs by Jake Smith in the third and fifth innings. 

“We talked about it, but at the end of the day when you’re down to win or go home, it’s a no-brainer,” Cook said. “We still feel comfortable and confident in what we have left.”

Freshman Fleming Hall remains available, along with freshman reliever Walker McClinton. Providence, meanwhile, has several options that include Canady.

“We’re going to talk it out, but we have some options,” Smith said. “We still have a couple of pretty good arms that we have a lot of confidence in. Which one goes first and how long they go, that’ll be the chess match of the game for us.”

And after an unpredictable doubleheader on Friday, Smith knows he’ll have to be ready for anything. Fortunately for him, the Eagles are still alive in the playoffs. Unfortunately for him, the Wildcats grabbed the momentum with a 12-run victory that forced a third game in the series. 

“I’m just going to remind them, regardless, that we won a game and we won it by throwing strikes and playing defense,” Smith said. “That’s going to be the plan.”