MARYVILLE - This baseball team seems to like cleaning, as Coach Helton's sqaud just
swept their third straight conference series, and have now won all four they've played. The MC Scots took game one today 7-3 and game two 11-1.
The winning pitchers for today were
Mitchell Grannan, who improved to 3-0, and
Caleb Jinks, who improved to 5-2.
Nic Mirabella started game one and had a solid outing, striking out a season-best nine batters but exited the game with it tied at 3-3, disqualifying him from earning the pitching victory. Jinks tossed a complete eight inning game in the second competition, with the Scots earning the run-rule victory.
Game One
The Scots exploded on to the scene in game one today.
Colin Dunworth lined a home run over the right field wall with some help from the wind to give Maryville their first lead of the day.
Matt Hall tripled in the second inning, bringing home
Zach Devries in the process to put MC up 2-0 after two. Covenant would storm back in fifth, scoring three runs on five hits to take the 3-2 lead.
Maryville would tie the game in the seventh on a bases-loaded wild pitch that allowed
Jacob Johnston to score from third.
Devries would earn the team the lead in the eighth, singling up the middle and bringing in
Hunter Thaxton and
Ashton Whiteaker.
Brayden Evans would add some insurance runs after that with a single of his own to center field, also scoring two runners in Devires and Johnston, giving MC the 7-3 lead and final score.
Mitchell Grannan would pitch the eighth and ninth innings to close the game, facing just seven batters and not allowing a hit, earning his third victory of the year along the way.
Game Two
The second game of the doubleheader was all Maryville, as the Scots run-ruled Covenant 11-1 in eight innings. Jinks tossed his third complete game of the year and his second in a row. He allowed just one run to score on seven hits and struck out six batters along the way. His season ERA now sits at 4.03, second best on the team and 10th overall in the conference (Third overall among freshmen).
Maryville was held scoreless through the first two innings of the game, with their only base runner resulting in a dropped third strike getting
Ashton Whiteaker on at first.
From then on, it was all Maryville.
Brayden Evans doubled to the center field wall to open the third inning. He would immediately be brought home by reigning CCS Player of the Week
Matt Hall on a single to center field, which would be Hall's 20th RBI of the season.
Ashton "Big Hit Whit" Whiteaker knocked a two-run bomb over the wall in left-center field, putting the Scots up 3-Nil.
Covenant would get one run back in the fourth, but would be quiet the remainder of the game.
Jacob Johnston would single in the fourth to lead off, and then advance to third after a failed attempt to catch him stealing second resulted in an over-throw by the catcher.
Nick Curry singled the next at bat to bring home Johnston to get the run back for the Scots. 4-1 after four.
Hall would get on base in the fifth on a single through the left side.
Reece Jordan proceeded to hit his fourth double of the season to advance Hall to third and get two runners in scoring position for Maryville.
Colin Dunworth and
Ashton Whiteaker both had no luck the next two at bats, bringing up
Frank Derner with two on and two out. Derner hit a ball towards the first baseman, but bobbled the ball and allowed Derner to get to first safely and plate Jordan and Hall for two more runs. 6-1 Scots after five.
Another error resulted in
Nick Curry reaching base in the sixth. He was put in scoring position by Devires on a well-executed sac bunt.
Brayden Evans would proceed to get his 11th RBI with a single through the right side that plated Curry from second. 7-1 Scots.
Curry and Devries would both walk to begin the eighth, and would both advance in to scoring position on a perfect sac bunt by Evans.
Matt Hall would get his 21st and 22nd RBIs of the season (good for fourth on the team) with a single to left field that brought home both runners.
Reece Jordan singled next and advanced Hall to third. Jordan would steal second for his team-leading (and second in the conference) 19th stolen base of the year.
Colin Dunworth plated his 33rd RBI with a single through the right side, bringing home Hall from third and putting Jordan on third. Dunworth leads the conference in RBIs. He would then steal second (now a perfect 8-8 on the year in SB-Attempts) to get two in scoring position, needing only one to end the game by run rule.
Ashton Whiteaker would get close to hitting his second homer of the day, but instead hit a walk-off ground-rule double to bring home
Reece Jordan, ending the game at 11-1 Scots.
11-1 also happens to be Maryville's conference record after their third straight conference series sweep, and improve to 25-8 overall and have now won 10 games in a row. The Scots still stand in first place in the CCS standings and are 2.5 games ahead of Piedmont.
Coach Quotes:
On winning on his birthday
"well, I don't really like focusing on myself, but it is a nice birthday gift. Winning is a challenge in anything, and I can remember some years when things didn't go our way on this day, so I am always grateful to be out here and to win"
On Caleb Jinks
"It's huge man. He doesn't focus on velo, he doesn't focus on striking guys out. All he focuses on is competing and executing pitches, making the other team get themselves out."
On Sweeping another conference series
"When you sweep, you can definitely set yourself in a good position, but you know it goes back to something we talk about a lot and that is not just chasing a result, but being process oriented. How do we get better every day and elevate our standard? it is by showing up hungry and staying humble and focusing on process over results and just being great teammates and competing."
Maryville is off in the midweek this week, and will prepare to host LaGrange for Senior Weekend in a pivotal conference series, beginning on Thursday.
