SMC defeats top-ranked Chattahoochie at WS
SMC baseball
Spartanburg Methodist pitcher Kyle Halhbon high-fives his teammates after the Pioneers defeated Chattahoochee Valley 18-3.Gretel Daugherty/Grand Junction (Colo.) Sentinel
Published: Tuesday, May 27, 2014 at 4:14 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 27, 2014 at 4:14 p.m.
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- It started with a small leak in the defense, just a single drop, and turned into Niagara Falls.
Chattahoochee Valley's
center fielder missed a two-out fly ball in the second inning Tuesday,
allowing the first two runs to score for Spartanburg Methodist, and then
the floodgates opened.
The
Pioneers scored nine times in that frame, eight in the next and crushed
the top-ranked team in the country, 18-3, in a Junior College World
Series baseball elimination game shortened to five innings at Suplizio
Field because of the mercy rule.
SMC
stayed alive and will play 5 p.m. (Eastern) Wednesday against the loser
of Tuesday's late game between Blinn (Texas) and Miami (Fla.) Dade.
The
fifth-ranked Pioneers (47-17) sent 25 batters to the plate in those two
innings alone and shocked the Pirates (47-13), who made four errors in
the second, finished with six and will head back to Phenix City, Ala.,
in the most disappointing way imaginable.
“Sometimes
when stuff like that starts, you can't stop it,” SMC head coach Tim
Wallace said. “I don't know that they could've stopped us today after we
got it going. It was fun to watch.”
Despite
only four turns at bat, SMC had 16 hits and its second-highest run
total of the season. The Pioneers beat Lenoir Community College, 23-8,
in their third game, way back on Feb. 8. In this one, the top seven of
the batting order went 15-for-23 (.652) with 14 runs scored and 12
driven in. The team had eight hits in the third inning.
“It
was unreal,” said SMC first baseman and clean-up batter Collin
Steagall, who hit his team-leading 11th home run of the season.
Steagall and Jordan Garrett from Chesnee had back-to-back homers in that fateful second inning when SMC started pouring it on.
“This
team has to take advantage of every extra opportunity we get,” Wallace
said. “I don't know that we've ever taken advantage more than we did
today.”
Garrett finished
3-for-3 with four RBIs; Steagall was 2-for-4 as he added a double; Zack
Shields had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI; Thatcher Coleman had
two hits and drove in two; Tyler Lancaster also had two hits; Brandon
Burris was officially 1-for-2, scored twice and stole three bases; and
Wes Rogers went a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBIs to make him 5-for-7 in
the World Series.
“That
was just a good team win. Everyone did their part,” Rogers said. “We did
what we should have been doing all along. If we can keep doing that for
the rest of the tournament, we should have a really good time.”
SMC
dropped into the losers' bracket Monday with an 8-3 loss against Miami
Dade. The Pioneers fell behind, 2-0, in the top of the first inning
against Chattahoochee Valley. But that sure didn't hold up long.
“We
loved it, especially after we struggled just to get three runs
(Monday),” Steagall said. “We were feeling it today. Everything their
pitchers were throwing, we were seeing. We hit the ball great. Hitting
was contagious today.”
Garrett,
who is second on the team with six homers, said he brought up the
subject of hitting them back-to-back with Steagall during pregame
warm-ups.
“I told him
before the game that it would be nice if we did that for the first time
all season,” Garrett said. “And, sure enough, we did it.”
SMC is making its third
straight trip to the World Series and ninth overall, seventh under
Wallace since 2001. Before last season, the Pioneers had never been
twice in a row.
“This felt
good,” Garrett said. “It was a disappointing game (Monday). We knew we
were a lot better team than we showed. We definitely don't want to go
home yet. In pregame, we brought the whole team together and said,
'Let's not end it here.' ”
All
that was plenty of support for SMC starting pitcher Kyle Halbohn, whose
biggest problem was trying to stay loose in the bullpen as the Pioneers
kept batting around. Halbohn gave up only two hits, both were homers,
but they didn't matter much. He struck out four.
“Momentum is a big key in this tournament,” Rogers said. “Hopefully, we can take this into the next game.”
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