The magnitude and drama in the final at-bat between rivals Oak Grove and Petal couldn't have been much higher.
With the path to a district championship on the line, Oak Grove's ace pitcher Maddox Miller certainly felt the pressure as Petal had runners at the corners with two outs. At the plate for Petal was Maddox's future Mississippi State teammate Tanner Beliveau, the most dangerous hitter in the Panthers' lineup.
"I'm not worried about who is at the plate," Miller said. "Everybody is the same to me. It's just it being Petal. Every at-bat is big to me. When we play Petal, when you are at Oak Grove, you want to beat Petal every single time. It was really big to finish that game and get the win."
However, Miller only needed four pitches to induce a game-ending flyout to finish throwing a complete game that carried Oak Grove to a 4-2 win over Petal at Harry Breland Field on Tuesday night.
"There have been a lot of kids to come through here that have done some things like that, and we always call it legendary," Oak Grove coach Chris McCardle said. "I thought he had a legendary performance today gutting it up. He didn't want to come out. His pitch count was way more than I would ever let him go, but he's such a tough kid and battles hard. I thought he could get the last out."
To raise the drama even further, Miller had thrown just under 120 pitches leading to the at-bat, meaning that due to the high school pitch count rules, Beliveau was going to be the last batter he faced, no matter what. By the end of the night, the right-handed pitcher struck out nine batters, walked four, and allowed four hits with no earned runs.
"It was definitely a lot of stress," Miller said. "I was really nervous. I know they were calling the right pitches. I was stressed, but I also had the confidence to get out.
Yet Miller got off to a rocky start on the mound, with Petal (18-7, 7-2) taking an early in the first inning. Oak Grove's center fielder EJ Booth dropped a deep flyball to allow Petal's Easton Giger to reach third base on the error. Miller then threw a wild pitch, which allowed Giger to score and the Panthers to take a 1-0 lead and drove Oak Grove's pitch count high early on.
"I loved our approach early," Petal coach Jake Mills said. "Through two innings, he's at 42 pitches, but then going into the seventh inning, he's at 95, so do the math. We had a good approach early, but I just thought we felt the pressure."
At the same time, Petal's starting pitcher Jayden Madison was going toe-to-toe with Miller as he finished the game with eight strikeouts, two walks, and allowed only one earned run off seven hits.
"He's a great pitcher," Miller said of Madison. "I know it's going to be a good game going into it. I can't give up many runs because he's not going to give up many runs. That definitely adds pressure.
"He was keeping the ball away from me. I couldn't hit it. I know he walked a few people, but he's gross. He's got a really good slider and a pretty good changeup, and his fastball works well."
The game's tide changed in the third inning as Petal came up with back-to-back two-out singles. Oak Grove shortstop Gage Thompson then made it a point to slow the game down for Miller and held a brief conversation that seemed to do just that.
"I don't remember what he told me, but we have talked before games that if he's pitching or I'm pitching and I look like I'm tired, he'll come to the mound and talk to me," Miller said. "If he's tired, then I will talk to him just to give us a break."
Thompson's talk worked as Petal grounded out to him, and Miller retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced.
"I made some mechanical changes going into the third," Miller said. "I think that really helped. I'm amped up, and it's Petal, so that had something to do with it. I came to the dugout and calmed down. I went back out there and did what I knew I could do."
In the bottom of the third inning, Oak Grove (19-5, 8-1) put up all four of its runs with two outs. After recording two quick outs, Madison gave up a single and a walk. Mac McDaniel then reached first on an infield single, but Madison made a throwing error to first to allow a run to score. Eli Wheat then followed with an RBI single with two more runs later, scoring on a mishandled ground ball by Giger to make the score 4-1.
"It all happened with two outs, and those two outs happened in four pitches," Mills said. "That's the tough part.
"When you lose the freebie war against good teams like that, then things are going to happen that don't go in your favor. That's what that inning did tonight. We couldn't make a play to get out of it or make that pitch. That's the part that kind of stings the most."
It wasn't until the seventh inning that Petal's lineup found some life after a pair of runners reached based on a one-out walk and a dropped ball in center. Giger hit an RBI single to narrow the score to 4-2, which then set up the dramatic final out.
"The past few years, we have been unlucky with how we played in the district, but this year we have all come together, and we are a really good group," Miller said. "We are ready to beat everybody."
The Warriors' victory now puts them in the driver's seat as it sets up a winner-take-all matchup for Thursday, as a win for Oak Grove will clinch the Region 3-7A title and a No. 1 seed in the playoffs. However, Petal can still win the district if Brandon loses to Northwest Rankin and the Panthers defeat Oak Grove by three or more runs. There is also a scenario where neither Petal nor Oak Grove wins the district - if Petal beats Oak Grove and Brandon wins, then the Bulldogs claim the district title.
"It never stops," McCardle said. "Petal has to win, Brandon has to win, and we have got to win, so everybody is still in it. I expect another game like this one.
"It's all the way to the wire. We have to come back and play good baseball."
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