LUMBERTON – With its back against the wall and time running out in their season, Lumberton needed a gut check.
And when they needed the most, the Panthers sucked it up and got the job done, keeping their season alive with a 4-3 victory over Bogue Chitto Saturday night in Game 2 of the Class 1A baseball playoffs at Carl Hancock Sports Complex.
Lumberton (9-12) even the best-of-three game series, forcing a deciding third game on the road on Monday. The Bobcats (11-11) saw an eight-game winning streak come to an end with the defeat.
“That was a good high school playoff baseball game,” said Panther coach Lance Hendrix. “We were lucky. We knew they had a quality arm throwing at us. So we knew we had our hands full.
“All year long, we’ve lost a lot of one-run ball games, because our bats just haven’t heated up yet. So it feels good to win one of these games.”
It looked grim early for the Panthers, however, as they had to overcome a 3-0 deficit after an inning-and-a-half.
Senior right-hander Brendan Watters was shaky in the early innings, and the Bobcats wasted no time in taking advantage.
With one out in the top of the first inning, senior Tucker Kyzar turned on a fastball and pulled it well over the rightfield fence for a home run. Senior Tripp McCaffrey followed with a bloop single into rightfield that was misplayed into a two-base error.
But McCaffrey gambled on a pitch that got past the catcher, and junior Hunner Long threw the runner out with Watters covering. That play would loom large, as Bogue Chitto picked up another run in the first on a walk, a single and an error in the infield.
The Bobcats made it 3-0 in the second after two were out. Sophomore Landon Wright singled, took second on a passed ball and scored on a double by Kyzar, who very nearly had his second homer of the game.
At that point, the Panthers looked close to down-and-out, facing Kyzar, a right-hander who is headed for East Central Community College in the fall.
Kyzar got a double play to nullify a leadoff throwing error in the first inning, pitched a 1-2-3 second, and stranded a runner at third base in the third inning.
That came after a walk and a wild pitch allowed senior Urigah Spinner to reach second to lead off the inning. He was sacrificed to third, but was left standing there.
“He was trying to stick with that slider he’s got,” said senior Landon Knight. “He loves that slider, but he was kind of inconsistent with it, throwing it all over the place. But it had a lot of movement on it, and I think that was where his heart and soul were at.”
When Bogue Chitto got two runners on via walks in the top of the fourth inning, with the top of the order coming up and only one out, Hendrix went out to the mound to give his pitcher a pep talk. By then, Watters was already at 70 pitches.
“I told him I didn’t like his body language,” Hendrix said. “And I think that was why he wasn’t getting some of the calls he wanted. He focused in, listened to me, and the rest of the game, he just relaxed and pitched. He’s a tough kid. He’s made for these kind of ball games.”
Whatever Hendrix said worked wonders. Watters struck out Wright and Kyzar get out of further trouble.
“I set (Kyzar) up with a fastball high, then set him up for an inside fastball,” said Watters. “He took the inside fastball, threw back-to-back sliders, then I threw him a fastball on the outside of the plate to freeze him for strike three.”
And Watters (3-1) needed just 28 pitches to get through the last three innings. He allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits, six strikeouts and four walks.
“My fastball was working for me,” Watters said. “I could set it up for a fastball inside, then I could throw my breaking ball for strikes. It was helping me overall to stay competitive against the hitters and make them put the ball in play.”
After going hitless through the first three innings, the Panthers broke through in the fourth. Knight led off the inning by smacking ball into the gap in right-centerfield for a double. He was sacrificed to third and scored on a high hopper to third.
“We were definitely on our heels a little bit,” said Knight. “We were nervous. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen some really good pitching like that. But I just sat back on the curveball. I knew it was coming. I could see it out of his hand and crushed it.”
Lumberton finished with only five hits off Kyzar, but the Panthers made them all count, especially in the decisive fifth inning.
Spinner drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, and advanced to second on a passed ball and was sacrificed to third by senior Kydrick Harris, his second of the game.
Watters followed by laying down another sacrifice bunt to the pitcher, which Kyzar bobbled then threw wildly, allowing Watters to reach second, with the run scoring on the sacrifice.
Senior Jaden Smith drove in the tying run with a single up the middle, he took second on a wild pitch, went to third on a slow roller o shortstop and scored what proved to be the winning run on a double by senior Johnny Crawford.
In all, Lumberton put down four successful sacrifices, and they proved to be the difference in the game. Kyzar (3-2) allowed two earned runs, struck out three and walked two.
“We just grinded it out at the plate,” said Hendrix. “A lot of our two-strike approaches at the plate were very good. When we’re not hitting the ball real well, bunting and moving runners over is our way of putting pressure on a team to make them field it and throw it.”
Watters needed just six pitches to retire the Bobcats in order in the sixth, and his defense bailed him out in the top of the seventh, when the Panthers threw out sophomore Maddox Cooper at third trying to stretch a gapper into right-centerfield into a triple to lead off the inning.
The play saved the game, as Wright followed with a single that more than likely would have scored a run. Instead, Watters pitched around any further trouble to nail down the victory.
“I think we just put our heads down and started grinding,” Knight said. “Watters threw a heck of a game on the mound, we stayed focused in the batter’s box, put some balls in play and scored some runs.”
Hendrix said he’ll give the ball to Knight for Game 3, which is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.
“He’s pitched a lot of innings for us, so we’ll start with him,” Hendrix said. “But it’ll be all hands on deck, for sure, and then we’ll see what we can do.”
