ACA-STJ: Shores knocks in winning run to lift Trojans to series win
ACA catchler Trey Schlemmer tags out KJ Jackson at plate in the Trojans’ win on Friday. (Photo by Ryan Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Perhaps it was some sort of strange poetic justice that Clint Shores stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with the game on the line.
The St. James sophomore, after all, had pitched a no hitter the day before, only to lose to Alabama Christian 1-0.
Now, he was at the plate, trying to cap an improbable comeback that would all but assure his team of the 4A Area 3 championship.
“It was just a great team effort,” he said. “We fought and never quit, never gave up even when we were down. We had a tough loss yesterday, but it was great to come out here and battle back the way we did.”
Shores chopped a soft grounder against a drawn-in infield to ACA third baseman Carson Horn, who tried to quickly field and throw, only to mishandle the ball as Shaun Bridges scored the game-winning run from third to cap a seven-run rally and an 11-10 win that all but handed the 4A Area 3 championship to the Trojans.
Earlier in the day, Carter Carroll’s sacrifice fly scored Ethan Beard in the bottom of the seventh for a 5-4 win that left both teams in a virtual tie atop the area standings, bringing the area standings down to one tiebreaker game for all the marbles.
“Getting walked off twice obviously hurts,” ACA coach Manuel Guice said. “You look back in the sixth and seventh innings and we just didn’t make plays that we normally have been making. We didn’t finish either game defensively. All of our pitchers, I thought, pitched well. We definitely hit the ball well enough in the second game to win. We just had to make some defensive plays.”
Last year, the two teams opened area play against each other, with St. James winning the first game at home, then getting swept in an error-filled doubleheader at ACA that ultimately determined the area champion and runner-up.
“We remembered the pain we felt last year when we lost to them,” Shores said. “We won the first game here, then got swept at their place. We didn’t want to feel that pain again.”
Now, the Eagles (14-10) know the feeling, dropping to 3-1 in area play with an area doubleheader remaining against Booker T. Washington (and another possibly against Bullock County, although the Hornets may not count in the area standings). St. James (19-6) improved to 5-1 in area play (with a Bullock County doubleheader remaining) but Friday’s sweep likely gave the Trojans the right to host American Christian Academy in the first round of the area playoffs on April 22, sending Alabama Christian to Gordo for a first-round matchup.
“I’m getting older and older by the minute,” St. James coach Keith Lucky said. “I think the kids like to see me squirm and struggle a little. We had three balks called on us and we haven’t had a balk called on us this year. They had some balks called, too. It’s very talented teenagers that still don’t know how much stress they put on us old folks.”
While ACA’s JT Moorer and St. James’ Cooper Wright didn’t put on the pitching show that Issac Warrick and Shores did on Thursday, they were effective in the first game on Friday, with Moorer allowing only four hits and no earned runs over the final five innings and Wright holding the Eagles to five hits over the first five innings before Moorer’s two-run double gave ACA a 3-2 lead and finished his day.
That’s when things went sideways for the Eagles. A pair of errors put runners on base and a two-out popup near the foul line midway between home plate and first base was misplayed in a strong wind, allowing the Trojans to score two runs and regain the lead.
Trey Schlemmer’s double tied the game in the top of the seventh, but Ethan Beard singled, stole second, went to third on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly to give St. James the walkoff win.
And that was just the beginning. The second game was just as crazy as both sides had center fielders drop fly balls as the swirling winds played havoc with popups and foul balls. ACA took a 10-4 lead into the bottom of the sixth by turning six walks by St. James pitchers into six runs, only to watch the Trojans score four runs in the sixth with the help of two errors and three more runs in the seventh with the help of a balk and an error.
“We knew Isaac was going to come out and he was going to be tough the first game, but we knew the next two pitchers they threw at us we could handle,” Shores said. “We knew we could come out and do our job and play well on our home field so we had complete confidence we could win both games.”
Still, the Trojans were hitless for four consecutive innings in the second game of the doubleheader, finally coming to life in the final two innings as the No. 7 hitter, Michael Winn, had a home run in the sixth and a single in the seventh and the No. 8 hitter, Adam Garnett, had a single in the sixth and a double in the seventh.
Beard singled in Garnett to tie the game at 10-10 and Foster Rasmussen was intentionally walked, loading the bases for Shores.
“It was ugly, but I just knew I had to put the ball in play,” Shores said. “It didn’t matter how it looked or what it was, I had to get that guy in from third. Yeah, it wasn’t pretty but I’m glad we could pull it out.”