ACCS beats Cathedral

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Cathedral shortstop Daniel Huffines leaps in vain to catch the ball for the pick-off at second base. Adams County Ethan Loyed advanced to third base on the wild throw. (Ben Hillyer \ The Natchez Democrat)

 

NATCHEZ — Cathedral School’s Blake Martin and Adams County Christian School’s Jake Brumfield decided they would have a pitchers dual Tuesday night at Chester Willis Field.

Brumfield and Martin each allowed just one earned run in the game, but Cathedral made seven errors behind Martin, which led to two unearned runs for the Rebels, and ACCS pulled out a 3-2 victory.

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Brumfield went six innings to get the win. He allowed just three hits and three walks while striking out 13 Green Wave batters.

“Jake did a great job,” ACCS head coach Hunter McKeivier said. “He was around the zone all night. I was proud of him.”

Despite Brumfield’s performance on the mound, the Rebels were down 2-0 going into the sixth-inning and needed a late rally to give Brumfield the win. McKeivier said his team responded well from the talk he gave them after the fifth inning.

“We had a little talk after the bottom of the fifth and one thing I stressed was there is not one individual more important than the team,” McKeivier said. “We’ve got good players but if we play together we could be great, and that’s what I think we tried to do.”

The Rebels had two sacrifice fly balls in the inning, the first by catcher Brandon Ross to tie the game, and the second by left fielder Cody Rhinehart to give ACCS the lead. ACCS scored its first run in the sixth inning when pinch runner Lester Wells, who was running for Brumfield after he reached on a single, came around to score on an error by Cathedral second baseman Kyle Bradley.

Errors were a problem for the Green Wave all night, and head coach Craig Beesley said those errors may have cost Cathedral the win.

“I think if we make the routine plays we win the game,” Beesley said. “When people see 3-2 in the paper (this morning), it will look like it was a great defensive game, but it was far from it.”

Cathedral also left half-a-dozen runners stranded in scoring position in the game, and Beesley said the Green Wave has to get better at bringing those runners home.

“I think our inability to put the ball in play with runners in scoring position (was the difference),” he said. “We left five or six runs on the bases.”

Beesley said he was happy with the way Martin battled on the mound.

“Blake did an excellent job,” he said. “We couldn’t ask for more from him.”

Adams County Christian School shortstop Chris Carrell tries to catch the ball and make the tag as Cathedral’s Kyle Bradley steals second base Tuesday night at Chester Willis Field. (Ben Hillyer \ The Natchez Democrat)

Martin went the full seven innings for Cathedral and gave up three runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks. He struck out seven Rebel batters.

Cathedral got on the board first when Thomas Garrity scored on a Brumfield wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning. Garrity reached on a throwing error by Ross who was attempting to throw Garrity out from behind the plate after mishandling the third strike after Brumfield had recorded a strike out.

The Green Wave added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when Martin scored on another wild pitch to give Cathedral a 2-0 lead.

ACCS took the lead in the top of the sixth inning, and Brumfield struck out the side for the Rebels in the bottom of the sixth.

Johnny Smith closed the game out for ACCS in the seventh inning by getting three outs on four pitches to secure the win.

Caleb Upton sparked a Cathedral rally in the third inning with a two-out double, and the Green Wave had the bases loaded before Brumfield was able to strike out Ty Brown to end the inning.

Christopher Perry led ACCS at the plate going 2-4 with two singles.

ACCS (4-2) and Cathedral (1-2) will face each other again at ACCS Friday.