3A SEMIS: Houston Academy eliminates St. James from playoff contention
Wyatt Shelley is congratulated by his teammates after a home run in Houston Academy’s sweep of St. James on Wednesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Sometimes, you come into a series peaking at the right time. Sometimes, you don’t.
St. James hoped to come into its semifinals series with Houston Academy riding a wave of momentum, but it was the Raiders who stole the series, beating the Trojans 9-0 and 14-8 to sweep the best-of-three semifinal series at St. James on Wednesday night.
The Trojans finished their up-and-down season on a low note in a doubleheader that featured 15 walks and eight hit batters, but also included 22 hits by the Raiders, 11 in each game.
“When we did throw it over the plate, they hammered it,” St. James coach Keith Lucky said. “They’re hit and miss at the plate, but tonight they hit the baseball. We gave them some base runners and then they hit on top of that and it’s hard to stop when that happens.
“It was just one of those nights. We’ve had them, off and on throughout the year, but it seemed like we had turned the page a little getting into the playoffs and were playing decent baseball. Tonight, we just ran into a buzzsaw. Those guys are hot right now.”
Houston Academy (26-7) will advance to the 3A championship best-of-three series against the winner of Thursday’s series between Gordo and Phil Campbell. St. James finished at 21-15.
And while Houston Academy’s offensive barrage included three home runs from Wyatt Shelley, including a grand slam, the Trojans never found any offensive rhythm after Ethan Beard’s leadoff double off the left field wall in the first game left him stranded on second base.
“I think momentum swung for us right out of the gate,” Lucky said. “Ethan hits a double off the wall and we can’t get him in. We had the third, fourth and fifth batters up and still couldn’t get him in. That just sort of set the tone for the rest of the game.”
Houston Academy’s Adam Boyd surrendered just two hits over the first five innings -- the second hit, a single by Clint Houser in the second inning, was wiped out when Houser was picked off -- as the Raiders opened up a 3-0 lead with five runs in the fifth.
In the second game, St. James was designated as the visiting team and scored six runs in the first inning, but gave up eight in the second inning, including a bases-loaded walk by reliever Charlie Cutler, followed by Shelley’s grand slam that put the Raiders back in front.
Will Wells added a two-run home run in the sixth to close out the scoring by both teams.
While Lucky acknowledged it was a strange season, the Trojans reached the semifinals for the first time since the 2006 state championship season and he was disappointed the season had ended for five seniors and junior KJ Jackson, who is playing in his final season for the Trojans.
“We’re going to miss the seniors, no doubt about it,” Lucky said. “They’re a good bunch of ball players. It was an up-and-down season all year long. When you get your basketball players and wrestlers two weeks into the season, sometimes it takes time to get everything in place. But we’re fortunate to get here. I’m real proud of the kids. Semifinals is a big step for us.”