Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Cards Get Conference Victory Over Alma
FARMINGTON WINS WITHOUT COACH
FARMINGTON — A road trip to Alma March 28 turned into a 5A West Conference win for the short- handed Cardinal baseball team by a 9-3 tune.
The win came despite the absence of head coach Jay Harper, who was ejected while questioning a ruling pertaining to a fly ball to right field that was caught by the Cardinals against Shiloh Christian the day before.
“I didn’t think that kid tagged up at third, so I went out to the second base umpire to ask for an explanation,” Harper said.
The second base umpire appealed to the home plate umpire.
“The home plate umpire gave me an explanation I wasn’t ready for,” Harper said, admitting his response was inappropriate.
Farmington led that contest 12-1, but Shiloh Christian roared back to tie the game, at 12-all, in the sixth inning.
“We had a little lull, we don’t pitch strikes, we let them on base, we let them back into the game,” Harper said.
Harper praised assistant baseball coach Clint Scrivner for taking over and guiding the Cardinals to a 13-12 victory over Shiloh.
“Coach Scrivner did a good job of refocussing our players,” Harper said. “He brought them together and reminded them of our philosphy which is ‘Win in the inning,’ to win the one winning. We pushed across a run in the seventh inning and Shiloh didn’t score in the seventh.”
As a consequence of the ejection, Harper had to sit out the Alma game. Scrivner coached and was assisted by Farmington athletic director Brad Blew, who coached first base.
“It was really different for us,” Scrivner said. “This is my 14th year, Jay has only missed three games in that time. So, it was a little different having Coach Blew coaching first base, but he’s a baseball man. He knows baseball.”
With a storyline featuring a spring break 3-1 record in a tournament at Gulf Shores, Ala. plus the Shiloh drama, through 16 games, Farmington has compiled a 12-4 overall record with a 4- 0 conference mark with three Cardinals batting over .400.
Farmington ace Tyler Gregg, who is batting .481, started on the mound and dominated the Airedales, who were a combined 5 for 26 against Cardinal pitching, which included Cade Fenton in the seventh inning.
Scrivner went to Gregg the day before the game and told him, “You can help me out a whole lot if you control the game.”
“He did, he was really steady through six innings, with only one walk,” Scrivner said.
Gregg held the Airedales at bay for six innings, issuing one walk, while surrendering 5 hits and giving up 2 runs. Of the 100 pitches he threw, there were 11 strike-outs.
The Cards jumped on Alma in the top of the first inning with four straight hits against Alma junior Brayden Johnson, who lasted 3 and 2/3 of an inning, allowing 8 runs on 7 hits with 4 errors, 1 base on balls and 5 strike-outs.
Logan Bobak got the action started by leading off with a double. With a runner in scoring position, Ryan Larkin contributed an RBI single. Blake Putnam followed with a single, and Gregg had an RBI single. Kelton Price drove in a run to give the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.
Alma responded with two hits to score a run, leaving the Airedales behind 4-1 after one inning. In the second, Alma put three hits together to score a second run only to have the rally ended with a strike-out by Gregg. Johnson had a sacrifice fly to drive in a run for Alma. The Airedales got RBIs from Keesler Nye (1 for 4) with a triple and Lane Caldwell (2 for 3).
After a scoreless second inning, Farmington got things going again in the third. Larkin reached base on an error to put the leadoff runner on. Putnam’s bunt moved him to second. Gregg singled, Price walked, and Tripp Cheney recorded an RBI off a fielder’s choice. Gregg scored a second run on an Alma throwing error for a 6-2 Farmington lead.
Gregg didn’t give Alma a chance to cut into the Cardinal lead, by shutting out the Airedales from the third through sixth innings by not allowing a hit.
Larkin, who is hitting .431 on the year, singled in the fourth and was driven home on a RBI single by Putnam, who is batting .480. The Cardinals added two more runs in the sixth when Trenton McChristian led off with a double and was driven in on a RBI double by Larkin. Larkin stole third and scored the final run on a passed ball for a 9-2 lead.
Fenton pitched the seventh inning and allowed one run to wrap up a 9-3 win for the Cardinals. Larkin, Gregg, and Eric Hill had three hits each. Putnam added two hits. Larkin and Putnam each had 2 RBIs and Larkin scored four runs.
“They made it easy on me,” Scrivner said. “I didn’t have to do anything crazy. I’m glad Jay’s back.”