SWINGING AWAY
Late rally lifts Red Devils, 2-1
MOUNTAIN PINE — Locked in a pitchers duel through six innings, Mountain Pine used its speed on the basepaths to claim a conference victory over visiting Magnet Cove Wednesday night.
Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the seventh, Josh Walpole drew a walk and later stole second to put the tying run in scoring position for the Red Devils (4-8, 2-2 in 1A/2A-12).
“I told them before we came out there in the seventh that we were going to do two things: we’re going to continue to put the ball in play, and we’re going to be really aggressive on the basepaths,” Mountain Pine coach Joseph Alderman said.
Two batters later, Chad Graves knotted the score with an RBI single to score Walpole. Graves later stole second and reached third on a wild pitch to bring the winning run just 90 feet from home.
Down to its last at-bat after a groundout by Matthew Herron, Mountain Pine’s aggressive baserunning came through in the clutch.
A wild pitch by Magnet Cove’s Javin Shirley reached the backstop and Graves raced home to give the Red Devils a dramatic 2-1 win at Mountain Pine Field.
“We work on reads all the time, but the thing with Chad is he has that combination of baseball intelligence and he’s got the speed,” said Alderman. “He knew as soon as it passed the catcher that he was going. He’s a smart kid.”
A single by J.T. Higdon and an error by Mountain Pine gave the Panthers (6-10, 3-2) an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first before Herron settled in on the mound.
A double by Elijah Browning and a single by Dylan Munson gave the Red Devils runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the second, but Magnet Cove’s Justin McKim worked out of the jam with consecutive strikeouts to keep the shutout intact.
Mountain Pine stranded nine runners on base in the first six innings.
“McKim did a great job on us,” Alderman said. “He got us out in front by changing up everything, and we never made our adjustments against him. We kind of did our own thing instead of doing it my way, and that hurt us.”
Shaking off the early deficit, Herron pitched like the ace of the staff for the remainder of the game. An all-state performer last season, the burly right-hander held Magnet Cove to no runs on just two hits over the last six innings.
Herron finished his day with one run allowed on three hits, striking out 13 while issuing one walk in a complete-game performance.
“He had to battle today when we had a couple errors that cost us,” said Alderman. “It was
great for him to overcome that adversity and still do his job. He trusted the guys behind him, put it over the plate and threw strikes. He was able to finish out a complete game without getting his pitch count up. It was great.”
Not to be outdone, McKim rivaled Herron for six innings. The junior left-hander scattered four hits while striking out 11 and issuing three walks in six shutout innings.
Magnet Cove threatened to extend its lead in the top of the sixth when Cade Asher reached on a hit-by-pitch and later stole two bases, but Herron retired the side to keep the Red Devils within 1-0 entering the pivotal seventh inning.
Graves finished with two singles, one stolen base and one RBI in four at-bats, while Walpole doubled, walked twice and stole a base in four plate appearances.
Higdon, McKim and Upton each singled for Magnet Cove’s only base hits.
With five losses in their last six games, the Panthers are scheduled to travel to Abundant Life (4-10) today before resuming conference play Monday at Cutter Morning Star (1-6, 0-3).
Following a six-game losing streak with three wins in its last four games, Mountain Pine hosts Ouachita (13-4, 2-0) Monday night.
“Today was a great win for us,” Alderman said. “Since I’ve been here, Magnet Cove and Poyen have just had us every year; we just couldn’t seem to get over the hump. It feels good to finally be able to get that off our backs and get a conference win.”