The Oak Grove Warriors and Gulfport Admirals will meet in the 6A postseason once again. After battling a three-game series in last season’s 6A South State Championship, the two will square off in the third round this season.
Oak Grove will host Game 1 Thursday at 7 p.m., then Game 2 will be at Gulfport Friday at 6 p.m. If necessary, Game 3 is back at Oak Grove for a 7 p.m. first pitch Saturday.
The Warriors are coming off probably their most complete two-game stretch of the season last week against a senior-heavy Pearl Pirates team. Oak Grove took Game 1 10-0 then completed the sweep the next night at Pearl with a 5-1 win.
Sophomore Turner Swistak pitched in the shutout win and Luke Lyon only allowed one unearned run in Game 2. On top of the stellar pitching performances, the Oak Grove offense hit .426 (23-for-54) from the plate and the defense only committed one error.
“I thought we played good,” McCardle said. “I think we’re ready to play mentally, and when we come prepared mentally a day ahead of time instead of showing up thinking we can turn it on, we actually played pretty good. It’s always a struggle with a younger team, but we’re figuring it out.”
McCardle believes his team is playing its best baseball right now, too.
Gulfport (23-4) had a second-round sweep as well, as it beat Pascagoula 11-6 and 6-5 in the two-game series. The Admirals lost in the 6A State Championship to Tupelo a year ago, but for the most part, the entire team is back for another playoff run.
“They were probably the favorite from last year coming in because of the success they had last year,” McCardle said. “I know they have their same pitching staff they had last year and three of their best hitters are back. They know what it’s like and know what you have to do to get there.
“We always seem to meet up with these guys in the playoffs, so it’ll be a good series.”
The Admirals have a team batting average of .275, and they have just three players with an average of .300 or better. Senior Blake Johnson is hitting .471 with eight home runs and 34 RBI. Johnson hit in the middle of the order in 2017, but with the loss of a few players, Johnson moved to the leadoff spot.
“They moved their best hitter to the leadoff spot, which is a thing people have done,” McCardle said. “Sometimes when you put those guys in the three spot, they’ll get pitched around. If you put him in the leadoff, you kind of have to pitch to him because you don’t want to put a guy on with no outs.”
Moving Johnson to the leadoff spot is similar to what McCardle has done in the past. Matthew Guidry, a current member of the Southern Miss baseball team, was moved to the top of the order for the same reason.
Johnson is one of the aces of the pitching staff, too. He’s second on the team with 41 innings logged and a 4-1 record. He has a 3.59 earned run average and 65 strikeouts to 32 walks. Senior Patrick Nelms leads the staff with a 5-1 record, 2.68 ERA, 49 strikeouts and 14 walks in 47 innings.
As a team, Gulfport has a 3.43 ERA.
