Big inning lifts Veterans past Mary Persons
KATHLEEN -- Veterans got off to a slow start on a windy and chilly night against Mary Persons, but stormed back for 10 unanswered runs in a 10-3 victory Friday night over the Bulldogs in GHSA Region 2-AAAA baseball.
Mary Persons (11-9, 3-5) struck for three runs in the top of the first off of Veterans (14-6, 6-1) starter Griff Faircloth, who was making his first appearance since returning from an arm injury. Opposing starting pitcher Dallas Clark's double to the opposite field gap was the big blow, scoring two Bulldogs on the play.
Region-leading Veterans pulled two back in the second, and then took the lead for good in the third. Florida State commitment Tyler Daughtry plated two with an RBI double of his own that was immediately followed by a run-scoring single from catcher Leyton Pinckney. The Warhawks offense racked up 14 hits.
Veterans' Andrew Ellison relieved Faircloth after the starter reached his 50-pitch limit in the third inning. Ellison worked the final 4-2/3 innings, striking out six to earn the victory.
THREE WHO MATTERED
Ellison: The right-hander was dominant in relief, repeatedly blowing fastballs past an overmatched Bulldogs lineup.
Pinckney: The five-hole hitter for the Warhawks reached safely in all four plate appearances, finishing with three hits and an RBI.
Korbin Hollensteiner: Veterans' ninth batter in the order had a triple, a single and scored two runs. He also drove in the final run of the game for the Warhawks in the sixth inning. TURNING POINT
After Veterans took a 6-3 lead in the third, Mary Persons had a chance to jump right back into the game in the following half-inning. A walk followed by a bloop single and a throwing error had two Bulldogs in scoring position with nobody out. Ellison then coaxed a lazy pop to short, struck out catcher Austin Benson and got J.D. Richards to ground to second to end the threat.
THEY SAID IT
Veterans head coach David Coffey on the shaky start: "It makes you think there in the first inning that it's going to be a barn-burner. It was a tight game there until the fourth or the fifth, but I'm glad of the way my guys responded."
Coffey on Faircloth's performance: "Right now for him, it's kind of his preseason throwing program, so he's just getting back into the groove. He's going to have times where he's amazing right now and times where he's a little frustrated, but overall, I think he looked great."
Coffey on bottom of the order production: "The first half of the year, the top of the order really carried us, and right now it's the bottom of the order that's swinging it well. Hopefully we'll start swinging it well top to bottom. But as long as we're swinging it well somewhere, we'll be OK."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Mary Persons steps out of region play and travels to Stratford on Saturday, while Veterans tries to take one step closer to a region title when it hosts Baldwin on Tuesday.
This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 10:28 PM with the headline "Big inning lifts Veterans past Mary Persons ."