The Boyd Buchanan and Baylor baseball teams have both had great seasons to this point and should go deep in the post-season playoffs, so it was appropriate these two teams played their final regular-season game at Baylor’s Eddie and Gene Etter Baseball Complex/Wyatt McMahan Field Wednesday night.
Both teams made exceptional defensive plays and both had outstanding hits in clutch situations, but it was the host Red Raiders who walked away with the victory after scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh with nobody out to win, 6-5.
Trailing 5-3 going into their final time at bat, Baylor scored three runs on a hit batter, two walks and two hits, including a clutch two-run double to right-center by Nelson McKnight to drive in the winning runs.
“I guess we get to play seven innings for a reason, Baylor co-head coach Greg Elie laughed following the game.
“These are two pretty good baseball teams and we’re both trying to fine-tune as the playoffs begin, but I’m really proud of how we battled late. It wasn’t the cleanest game of the season, but we got the big hit when we needed it and we’ll take the win. It was a good night for Baylor baseball,” he added.
While Baylor improves to 21-5 with the win, the Buccaneers fall to 27-4.
Boyd Buchanan coach Stephen Pryor felt like his team played well, but key pitches in key situations can make or break a close game.
“You just have to throw strikes in a situation like that, but we’ve had a great season and this was a great game,” he began following a talk with his team after it ended.
“We didn’t want to waste any pitchers and we used five, but all of them did their job. Now we can concentrate on the post-season,” he added.
Haden Griffith, the Buccaneer second baseman and leadoff man, went to first after getting hit by a pitch to start the game and scored the first run when Brodie Johnston lined a double off the fence in right-center.
The Buccaneers added another run in the second when Jonathan Tinker led off with a single, went to second on a sacrifice, to third on a bunt single by Griffith and scored on Johnston’s second hit of the game.
Boyd Buchanan southpaw Cooper Jones had done well with just a walk in the first two innings. He got two quick outs in the Baylor third, but couldn’t get anyone else as Tomas Valincius walked and scored on a double by Zach Morrison.
Nelson McKnight doubled to drive in the second run before Matt Dill walked. Jones was replaced by Liam Cooper at that point and promptly gave up a run-scoring single to Blake Lundy for a 3-2 Baylor lead.
Griffith’s two-run double in the fourth put the Bucs back on top 4-3 while a two-out double by Xavier Embry in the fifth extended it to 5-3.
Baylor’s bats were relatively quiet for the next three innings following the three-run third, but they came back to life in the seventh.
Graham King got hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before Henry Allen walked. Asher Goodwin, the fourth Buccaneer pitcher, was then replaced by Griffith, who gave up the longest single of his career when Valincius hit a towering shot off the fence in center to load the bases.
Morrison then walked on a 3-2 count to plate courtesy runner Will Ratterman with the first run before McKnight became the hero for Baylor after ripping a 3-2 pitch into the gap in right-center to drive in the tying and winning runs.
Baylor finished the game with just six hits, but the last one by McKnight was poetic justice as it made up for a couple of infield errors earlier in the game.
Morrison and McKnight both had two hits for Baylor while Griffith, Johnston, Tinker and Embry all had two hits for the Buccaneers.
Baylor will be at home again on Thursday to face the winner of Knoxville Catholic and McCallie in the first round of their region tournament while the Buccaneers will be at home Friday to face the King’s Academy in a doubleheader that begins at 4 p.m.
BOYD BUCHANAN 110 210 0 – 5 9 0
BAYLOR 003 000 3 – 6 6 2
Jones, Cooper (3), Smith (5), Goodwin (6), Griffith (7) and Hise; Bishop, McKnight (4), Hamaker (5), Womack (6) and Lundy.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)