In baseball, the holy trinity is pitching, hitting and fielding, and if hitting and pitching are a wash, victory usually comes to the team that plays better defense.
That was the case for Sacred Heart Monday night as the Crusaders moved closer to the MHSAA State Championships next week with a 7-4 victory over Taylorsville in Game 1 of the Class 1A South State finals at Larry Mixon Field.
Sacred Heart (25-6) won its 18th straight game and can clinch the series in Game 2, set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Taylorsville. The Tartars (16-11) must win to force a third game and keep their state title defense alive.
“These kids, they play hard,” said Crusader head coach Larry Watkins. “I though we came out ready to play. We hit the ball hard on their pitcher – and he’s a good one – but we were able to get some big hits and score some runs early in the game.”
Although the Crusaders did make one error, Taylorsville was tagged with five miscues, none more costly that a two-run boot with two out in the bottom of the second inning that put SH ahead for good.
“Our guys played great defense all night; can’t say enough about them,” said senior Kyron Murphy, who overcame a rough start to pitch the distance and improve his record to 12-2.
“My catcher has really come along. Dude’s been holding it down for us all year. He’s one of those guys that shows up every day and works hard. We really take pride in our defense.”
Until the bottom of the second, it was a back-and-forth affair as both teams scored twice in the first inning, then the Tartars regained the lead with a run in the second.
Taylorsville touched Murphy for two runs in the top of the first on two runs on three hits and a walk.
With one out, junior Noah Westbrook legged out a single on a grounder to deep shortstop and junior Trey Barnes drew a walk, Westbrook stole second, then he and Barnes executed a double steal to put runners at second and third.
Senior Ford Matthews got one run home with a sacrifice fly, and freshman Terry Barnes drove in the second run with a single up the middle.
But Murphy stopped the rally with a pop-up for the third out of the inning, and he wasted no time getting the Crusaders started at the plate, smacking Matthews’ first pitch of the game off the top of the wall in left-centerfield for a double.
“It was a rough first inning, and I really didn’t pitch as well as I wanted to start the game off,” said Murphy. “I did a good job of adjusting in the second inning. No earned runs after that.”
Sophomore Colter Garner followed Murphy to the plate and hit an opposite-field gapper to right-centerfield to drive in the Crusaders’ first run of the game. A throwing error on a pickoff attempt moved Garner to third and he scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Darren Brown.
Matthews (5-5) got out of further trouble, and he showed flashes of brilliance the rest of the way in a complete-game effort for Taylorsville, striking out 10. But he also walked four, scattered seven hits and allowed five earned runs.
“I thought coming right back in the first inning was big for us,” said Watkins. “That showed our kids that we could play with them right there.”
A pair of walks and a dropped third strike on what would have been the third out of the inning allowed the Tartars to regain the lead, but that simply set the stage for the pivotal bottom half of the inning.
Junior Marshall Green drew a leadoff walk and went to second on a single by senior Jackson Gamber.
Matthews got two outs with a strikeout and a slow roller between the mound and first base, allowing the runners to move up a base. And it looked like he was out of trouble when he got a routine grounder, but it was booted in the infield, and the go-ahead runs came in to score.
“Matthews was solid,” said Garner. “We just prepared all week ready to hit him. We hit the ball hard and performed well; defense, offense, I thought we did good tonight.
“The came out in the first inning and hit the ball well. We just stayed in there with them and kept hitting it. Eventually, we overcame them with our bats and scored more runs.”
After Matthews struck out the side in the third, the Crusaders broke it open with three runs in the fourth on three hits.
Gamber led off with a single and reached second on a passed ball. After senior Foxx Reid walked, another passed ball moved the runners to second and third, and both scored on a double just inside the rightfield line off the bat of Garner.
Brown drove Garner in with a single to make it 7-3, and that was all the support Murphy needed.
“It’s a big confidence booster to come out with a four-run lead,” said Murphy. “My guys stepped up. Everybody was hitting well, and I think everyone in our lineup got on base. Can’t ask for more than that as a pitcher.”
Murphy scattered seven hits, struck out three, walked four, but only allowed three earned runs.
“The curveball was my best pitch tonight; I probably threw 75 of them,” Murphy said. “They really couldn’t hit my two-seam (fastball). It’s got a little bit of run to it. They might have gotten one or two hits on it, but nothing major.”
And after throwing 56 pitches in the first two innings, he needed just 54 to get through the next five innings, retiring 13 of 15 batters from the third inning into the seventh.
After getting two quick outs, the Tartars scored an unearned run after an error on what should have been the final out of the game, with the runner reaching second on the miscue.
Two singles got the run home, and a walk loaded the bases, but Murphy induced a game-ending groundout to shortstop to finish it off.
“(Murphy) got stronger as the game went on,” Watkins said. “He’s just a competitor. Like a lot of these kids, they compete and they play hard. Same way with him. He set the tone right off the bat with that double and he sucked it up on the mound.
“We keep an eye on his pitch count, but he’s usually pretty hard to get out of a game. He loves to compete out there, and he wants the ball.”
Sacred Heart will send sophomore Jameson Phillips (7-1) close out the series Tuesday and send the Crusaders to Pearl for the first time in school history.
“Our defense played really well tonight,” said Watkins. “I thought our shortstop (Reid) made some fabulous plays for us out there.
“That’s what it takes to win at this level. We’ve got to play all phases of the game well. We know tomorrow is going to be a tough game for us, and we’ll have to play well to win.”
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