AHSAA BASEBALL: St. James sweeps Providence Christians to advance
Charlie Cutler and the St. James Trojans swept Providence Christian to advance in the Class 3A playoffs. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
After cruising to a 9-3 win over Providence Christian in the first game of a best-of-three playoff series, St. James struck quickly for a run on three consecutive hits in the second game, then went silent for the next four innings as the Eagles rallied for a 3-1 lead.
Brooks Canady, replaced as the Game 1 starter in the second inning, retired 15 consecutive batters in the second game and was on the verge of forcing a third game when the Trojans finally sprang to life with four runs in the sixth inning and four more in the seventh to complete the sweep of the Eagles with a 9-3 victory.
“I think we got a little lackadaisical between games and weren’t as locked in,” said St. James junior Jimmy Dickens. “We were really slow and then it was like a light switch flipped for us. We started hitting the ball, stringing hits together and it turned out right for us.”
The Trojans (20-10) moved into the third round of the Class 3A bracket and will remain home next week to play Glenwood School (28-4), which defeated Thomasville 10-2 and 19-3.
Dickens was a huge factor in both games, going 2 for 4 with a career-high four RBIs in the first game and 3 for 4 with three RBIs in the second game.
Until Dickens’ sixth-inning single jump started the Trojans and finished the night for Canady, it appeared as if St. James was content to let the Eagles force a third game in the best-of-three series.
“I don’t know what it is,” St. James coach Keith Lucky said. “When we were at Altamont last week, we got down 4-0 on a grand slam and we chipped away and somehow came back and won that one. They can’t do that and continue on. They’ve got to start being sharp every inning. For whatever reason, this bunch thinks they can turn it on when they need to. And that doesn’t make sense. It drives me crazy.”
In the first game, Dickens hit a solo home run off of Canady to break a scoreless tie in the second game and came up big in the fifth inning with a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth to cap a three-run inning after Providence Christian had scored its third unearned run of the game.
Dickens had batted against Canady in the first inning, but Wilson Aman was thrown out on a steal attempt to end the inning, bringing Dickens back to the plate to lead off the second inning.
“I came up the next inning and that first pitch was a cutter that was right in my happy zone,” Dickens said. “I hit it really well.”
Mason Craig went 3 for 4 with an RBI, Charlie Cutler went 2 for 3 with an RBI and Dawson Knowles and J.B. Braswell both reached base three times as the Trojans battered four different pitchers.
It was a different story in the second game until the sixth inning. Dickens’ single cut the Providence lead to 3-2 and Canady was replaced by Creel (as he was in the first game). Creel promptly walked the next two batters, forcing in the game-tying run, and Aman bounced a single back up the middle that was mishandled by the second baseman, allowing two more runs to score.
St. James, down to its final four outs, scored eight runs in the last two innings with the help of two RBI singles by Dickens, a bunt single by Chase Perry, two intentional walks to Cutler, five additional walks, a hit batter and an RBI single by Aman to advance to the 3A quarterfinals next week.
“They’re going to give me a heart attack if they keep on doing this,” Lucky said. “We survived, but we’ve got a tall order (next week).”
Providence Christian, which had won 11 of its last 13 games before Friday’s series with the Trojans, ends the season at 15-14.