PREP ROUNDUP: St. James tops Holtville; ACA beats Trinity

St. James third baseman Carson Howard reaches to tag out Holtville’s Cooper Mann in the Trojans’ win on Monday. (Eddie Olszewski)

By TIM GAYLE

Tyson Eley stepped to the plate with runners on first and third in the sixth inning and popped up.

“I was mad about it,” the St. James senior third baseman said. “I knew I should have done better. I just wanted to bat one more time.”

He would get his chance in the bottom of the seventh. A pair of wild pitches led to a tie game and a pair of intentional walks to load the bases. Eley slapped a pitch over the heads of a drawn-in infield and capped a wild rally by the Trojans, who scored four runs in their final at-bat to beat Holtville 5-4 on Monday afternoon.

“It’s got to give us confidence,” St. James coach Keith Lucky said. “The players knew coming in here they were a good baseball team. I told the kids we would try to play it like a playoff game because that’s a quality baseball team. Don’t quit, that’s what that game tells you. Even against a great baseball team like Holtville has, you keep fighting until the last out.”

Holtville coach Scott Tubbs was disappointed at the late-inning collapse -- his team held a 4-0 lead entering the bottom of the sixth -- but wanted the Bulldogs to focus on area games later this week

“The only thing I told the kids is they can’t let this define them, they have to bounce back,” he said. “Nobody’s OK with losing, especially the way we lost the game, but you’ve got to tip your hat to them for not quitting. They’re very well coached and that’s who I want to play. That’s the only way we’re going to get better. We’re a young team and we make young-team mistakes.”

Holtville jumped on St. James starter Clint Shores for three first-inning runs as a two-out walk to Tanner Potts was followed by a double by Randy Davis and RBI singles by Mikey Forney and Cooper Mann. St. James shortstop Carson Howard put out the fire when he flagged down Garrett Ingram’s infield single, then alertly scrambled to third to tag out Mann, who had strayed off base.

The Bulldogs got another run in the fourth when Ingram doubled and later scored from third on a rundown involving Brady White. That appeared to be enough for freshman right hander Drey Barrett, who had allowed just two hits entering the sixth inning. 

“He did a very good job,” Tubbs said. “He gave us a chance. He got a little tired -- it was his first start of the year -- so we had to go get him but that’s OK. He gave us a chance and that’s all I can ask of him.”

Howard doubled in Ethan Beard to make it 4-1 and KJ Jackson drew a walk, causing Tubbs to replace Barrett with freshman reliever Braxton Potts. Potts got Eley to pop up and Michael Winn to ground out, leaving the Trojans three runs shy with three outs left.

Shores started the rally in the seventh with a single and Jeffery Ford followed one out later with a bunt that Forney, the catcher, fielded and threw over Davis at first. Shores went to third on the error and Ford advanced to second before Beard singled to left center and trimmed the deficit to a run. 

Zac Russell followed with a single and both Beard and Russell advanced on a wild pitch, causing Tubbs to intentionally walk Howard to load the bases. Another wild pitch scored Beard to tie the game and forced Tubbs to call for another intentional walk to KJ Jackson, bringing Eley to the plate.

Eley bunted on the first pitch down the third-base line, but the spinning ball rolled foul.

“When I saw them put KJ on, I had nothing but confidence,” Eley said. “That suicide squeeze, I would have loved to get it down, I’m usually pretty good with those, but I’m glad I got a second chance because I knew I could do it.”

Lucky, who had called for the bunt on the first pitch, changed his mind as the Bulldog infielders took two more steps toward the plate.

“KJ is not the greatest bunter in the world and when they walked him, I thought, ‘we’ve got this,’ because Tyson is a real good bunter,” Lucky said. “That’s when we tried the suicide squeeze. He got it down, it just didn’t work out. But the way their kids started crashing in, I was thinking if he hit it hard enough, it would get through.”

Eley delivered the next pitch into shallow right field for the walk-off win.

“It was an 0-1 curveball and I was able to recognize that out of his hand,” he said, “so I knew if I popped it over the second baseman’s head, I was going to score them. It worked out for the best.”

St. James (15-8) remains home to play Booker T. Washington in an area doubleheader on Thursday at 4 p.m. Holtville (14-6) faces Elmore County in an area game on Tuesday and again on Thursday.

The two teams will meet again on Monday afternoon in Holtville. 

“Every game from here on out is getting us ready for the playoffs, so it meant a lot to win this,” Eley said. “It shows us how good we can be when we put our minds to it and keep fighting throughout the whole game.”

BASEBALL

Alabama Christian 11, Trinity 6

Jalen Clark, Isaac Warrick and Brandon Bice all had two RBIs as the Eagles defeated Trinity 11-6 at Jason Armstrong Field on Monday afternoon.

Bice went 4 for 5 with three doubles, Clark went 2 for 4 and Warrick went 1 for 3 for ACA. Preston Hicks went 2 for 5 and drove in a run and Trey Schlemmer went 2 for 4 with a double and drove in a run. 

Warrick picked up the win in relief of Hayes Hunt, pitching two innings of no-hit ball while striking out four and allowing a run. Hunt went the first two innings, walking one and surrendering five hits and two earned runs.

Zac Westbrook pitched the final three innings, walking one and allowing just two hits and no runs.

ACA returns to area play this weekend, facing LAMP at Paterson Field on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. before hosting the Golden Tigers in a doubleheader at the AUM Dixie Majors Field on Friday at 4 p.m.

Trinity (7-7-1) plays host to Montgomery Academy in the 3A Area 6 opener at Jason Armstrong Field on Thursday and travels to Bowen Field for a doubleheader on Friday.  

Lee-Scott Academy 12, Macon East Academy 2

AUBURN -- Macon East got shelled early and had its 11-game winning streak snapped with an 12-2 loss at Lee-Scott Academy on Monday.

Matthew Kitchens lasted just 3.2 innings, allowing eight runs on nine hits while striking out two.

Jabe Boroff had three of the Knights’ seven hits and drove in both runs, including a solo home run.

Macon East Academy (17-6) returns home to play Hooper Academy on Thursday at 4 p.m.

SOFTBALL

Catholic 14, Brewbaker Tech 1

Carissa Gilbert pitched a three hitter while striking out five to lead the Knights to a 14-1 win over the Rams at Catholic on Monday afternoon.

Gilbert pitched a complete game, surrendering the only run on a solo homer by Gabby York.

Alanna Aiken supplied all the firepower to make a winner out of Gilbert, blasting her third grand slam of the year while driving in seven runs. 

McKenzie Norton had three hits and scored three runs, while Mallory Hildebrand had a pair of hits, scored two runs and drove in three more. Auburn Wilcoxson , Chloe Walden and Nona Johnson had two hits each and scored twice.

Catholic (11-9-1) remains home to host Trinity in an area game on Tuesday at 2 p.m.

BOYS TENNIS

Montgomery Academy 8, Houston Academy 1

Montgomery Academy dominated Houston Academy in surprising fashion as the defending 4A-5A state champion Eagles hosted the defending 1A-3A state champion on Monday afternoon at Montgomery Academy.

Whit Davis won at No. 2 singles and teamed with Hamilton Chapman to win No. 1 doubles to set the tone. Other singles winners from MA were Guy Hughes, John Alford, Jackson Brown and Gaines Freeman. 

In addition, to Davis-Chapman, the Eagles swept the doubles competition with wins by Hughes-Freeman and Alford-Brown.

Easton Strickler, Coleman McIntyre and Picasso Avezzano also won exhibition matches for Montgomery Academy.

Michael Piedra won a singles match for Houston Academy. 

Montgomery Academy (8-3) plays Trinity Presbyterian on Wednesday at Lagoon Park.