Oxford wins its tightest game in the Spring Break Experience so far, Donoho wins twice at The Big House, PV rallies at the beach
MONDAY’S GAMES
Choccolocco Park Spring Break Experience
Signature Field
Donoho 6, Wellborn 5
Donoho 17, Saks 4
Jemison 10, Saks 0
Oxford 9, Jacksonville 5
Prattville Christian 10, White Plains 0
Other games
Alexandria 8, Fairhope 6
Pleasant Valley 8, Haleyville 3
By Al Muskewitz
OXFORD – The Boom Boom Room that is Oxford’s post-game baseball clubhouse was a little more subdued than usual after most Yellow Jackets’ victories.
The Jackets won another game in the Choccolocco Park Spring Break Experience Monday, 9-5 over Jacksonville, but they just weren’t in a celebratory mood.
They didn’t expect all the games in the Experience to be like last week when they scored four run-rule victories and outscored their opponents 51-3, and this tested their resolve.
They lost a 4-0 first-inning lead and fell behind 5-4 in the fourth before tying it with the help of one of the best at-bats they’ve had all season and then scored two runs in the fifth and sixth innings to win it.
Normally after a win, they’ll rush to the clubhouse and then hoot and holler under the mirrored ball and strobe lights before getting down to a serious post-mortem. On this day, though, after Gavin Griner got the final out they slowly filed up the tunnel and quietly closed the clubhouse door behind them.
“We know what we did wrong, we know we should’ve played better,” right-fielder Tide Gann said. “We know we didn’t play great, but we still won and I think we know we’ve got to come into it better mentally before the game starts. No matter who we’re playing we need to play them like they’re the Yankees; be the best we can be.”
“You play bad and you win; we just got rewarded,” reliever Hayden Gallahar said.
As reluctantly as coach Wes Brooks was to use him with an area series starting Tuesday, the situation called for a quality reliever and Gallahar was summoned to give the Jackets a chance to win the game.
Jacksonville took the lead off the junior left-hander, but after giving up the go-ahead single to Tito Canales he allowed only one more hit, two more base-runners and struck out four in his 3 1/3 innings.
“Another day at the office,” Gallahar said. “I just wanted to throw strikes, fill up the zone. I have the best defense in the country playing behind me, I’ve just got to throw strikes and let them get themselves out, especially with the wind blowing in. We’ve got a good, really rangy outfield. All I have to do is just fill the zone.”
The Jackets’ game-tying rally in the home fourth began with Gann’s 12-pitch at-bat Brooks agreed was “the at-bat of the year.”
The sophomore fell behind in the count 1-2 and then fouled off seven pitches, including five in a row before taking a Will Greenwood pitch in the back to get on base. He went to second on a wild pitch, tagged up on Sam Robertson’s fly to center and scored on Peyton Watts’ short fly that center-fielder Kody Willingham dove to grab.
“After one or two foul balls after two strikes I kind of had the mindset that I’m not going to let him beat me or throw anything past me,” Gann said. “I don’t think I’ve had an at-bat like that in a long time, if ever.”
The Jackets took the lead in fifth on Sam Robertson’s opposite-field RBI single and he later scored on a passed ball. They added two insurance runs in the sixth on Chance Griner’s RBI single and Caleb Robertson’s run-scoring fielder’s choice.
Jacksonville 001 400 0 – 5 8 0
Oxford 400 122 x – 9 7 1
WP: Hayden Gallahar. LP: Jim Ogle. 2B: Taj Morris (J), Chance Griner (O), Sam Robertson (O).
Donoho 6, Wellborn 5: Falcons freshman Hayes Farrell had been waiting for his chance. He got it Monday and made the most of it.
The right-hander pitched brilliantly in his first varsity start, taking a one-hit shutout into the sixth inning before the Panthers started solving him the third time through the lineup.
Farrell, who didn’t know he was starting until the Falcons got to the park, gave up a single to his second batter and walked the third, then retired the next 12 in a row before giving up back-to-back walks in the fifth.
He went through the lineup the first time strictly on fastballs and then sprinkled in the slider the second time through. He threw 72 pitches total, but only 39 through the first four innings.
“I just trying to fill up (the zone) and throw strikes,” he said. “Warming up I felt good and stepped on the mound and filled it up. I always want to play. I’ve been on the bench for a little while. It felt awesome. I was excited. It was fantastic.”
What will he remember most about the outing?
“I held it down for a few innings,” he said.
And he should get the chance to do it a lot more.
“He’s going to be the guy we’re going to need to be like that (going forward),” Donoho coach Steve Gendron said. “I know it’s in there. I’ve seen it in practice, seen it in scrimmage. But hadn’t seen it in a game yet. I thought he pitched his tail off and it’s going to bode well for us going forward.”
Farrell lost the shutout in the sixth, his last inning, after the Panthers put together three straight one-out hits and a run-scoring ground out. Peyton Webb’s sacrifice fly in the seventh gave Donoho a 6-2 lead and plated what proved to be the winning run because Wellborn refused to fold.
The Panthers put together a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh on RBI doubles by Beau Neely and Brennan Talley and a run-scoring ground out by Cam Ingram. They had the tying run at second with two outs, but Blake Sewell came in and got the game-ending strikeout.
“We fought and fought late,” Wellborn coach Nick Burns said. “What I’m real proud of them of is when you get down early like that it’s easy to kind of want to roll over at times and they didn’t do that. They fought real hard, put ourselves in a position to win and I’m proud of them.”
The Falcons gave Farrell a 5-0 lead after three innings. Webb had a sacrifice fly and Nick Thompson an RBI single in the second. Judson Billings and Lucas Elliott hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the third and the inning’s third run came around on an error. Billings and Elliott both had two hits.
They had a chance for a big inning in the fifth when they loaded the bases with none out, but Wellborn’s JoJo Wyatt got out of it with two of his seven strikeouts and a force at the plate.
“We’re excited we won the game, but we had a couple innings in a row there where we had some terrible at bats,” Gendron said. “We need to be able to hit. There’s some times we’re doing it, some times we’re not; we’ve got to get a lot better. I keep saying it but this is our fifth game.”
Donoho 17, Saks 4: The Falcons didn’t have much time to rush from the Signature Field at Choccolocco Park to the pod fields for their second game with Saks, but they settled in quickly.
They gave up a run in the top of the first, then sent 12 batters to the plate in the bottom of the inning and scored eight runs to take control. Nick Thompson hit a bases-loaded, three-run double to highlight the outburst.
The middle of the Falcons’ lineup – Slade Haney, Judson Billings and Lucas Elliott – went a combined 5-for-9 with seven RBIs.
Will Folsom, who struggled to close out the first game, gave the Falcons 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, giving up two hits and striking out eight.
“I honestly thought he didn’t throw bad in Game 1, some balls were hit and we didn’t make a couple plays,” Gendron said. “(Peyton) Webb’s pitch count was up and Folsom told me he felt great so we have him another opportunity.
“These games are a great time to learn what you have as a team. He showed poise and a short-term memory, which is important for success in baseball. He pitched great Game 2. Proud of him.”
Donoho 020 000 1 – 6 10 0
Wellborn 000 002 3 – 5 7 5
WP: Hayes Farrell. LP: JoJo Wyatt. 2B: Judson Billings (D), Lucas Elliott (D), Brennan Talley 2 (W), Beau Neely (W).
Saks 130 00 – 4 3 1
Donoho 804 5x – 17 9 0
WP: Peyton Webb. LP: Rickey Garrett. 2B: Nic Thompson (D), Judson Billings (D), Lucas Elliott (D).
Prattville Christian 10, White Plains 0: PCA scored seven runs in the first inning and pitchers Edrick Yelder and Patrick Litz combined on a five-inning no-hitter with 10 strikeouts. The Panthers sent 11 batters to the plate in the first and produced its big inning with two hits, six walks and a hit batsman.
White Plains 000 00 – 0 0 1
Prattville Chr. 710 11 – 10 6 1
WP: Edrick Yelder. LP: Braxton Curles. 2B: Patrick Litz (P). 3B: Jackson Reed (P).
Jemison 10, Saks 0: The Panthers scored four runs in the first inning and Hunter Scott made it stand by holding Saks to two singles over six innings and hitless over the last 4 1/3. Ricky Garrett and J.J. Waters had the Wildcats’ hits.
Saks 000 000 – 0 2 3
Jemison 401 032 – 10 11 0
WP: Hunter Scott. LP: J.J. Waters. 2B: Guyton Pace (J).
Alexandria 8, Fairhope 6: Ian Cartwright’s go-ahead two-run single highlighted a four-run fourth inning and Tripp Patterson pitched 5 2/3 innings of one-hit shutout relief to give the Valley Cubs their first victory on their spring break trip to south Alabama.
The Cubs (10-8) trailed 6-3 going into the fourth. Austin West singled home their first run in the big inning and Aaron Johnson got them within one when he scored on a passed ball during Cartwright’s at-bat. Cartwright then lined a single to center to give Alexandria the lead.
Patterson came in with the Cubs trailing 5-2. He gave up a run-scoring double to the first batter he faced and didn’t give up another hit the rest of the game. He faced only two batters over his minimum.
Alexandria 201 400 1 – 8 8 3
Fairhope 240 000 0 – 6 4 1
WP: Tripp Patterson. LP: Hunter Hughes. 2B: Aiden Brunner (A), Jacob Conway (F), Jackson Hatcher (F).
Pleasant Valley 8, Haleyville 3: The Raiders fell behind early and then scored eight unanswered runs in the late innings to win in Orange Beach. They sent 11 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and scored six runs to take the lead. Pelham Parris and Connor George had back-to-back two-run hits to highlight the big inning. [*** read more]
