HATTIESBURG – It has been an up-and-down season for Presbyterian Christian baseball, and right now things are looking up in a big way for the Bobcats.
PCS used brilliant pitching and timely hitting to dispose of Oak Forest (La.) in the opening round of the MAIS Class AAAA Division 1 playoffs.
After winning Tuesday’s best-of-three game series opener 1-0 at Amite, La., the Bobcats completed the sweep Thursday with a 3-0 victory at the PCS Baseball Field.
PCS (15-16 overall) will move to the second round of the playoffs against Madison-Ridgeland. Oak Forest completed its season 11-22.
“We know we’ll have our hands full with MRA,” said PCS coach Jarrett Hoffpauir. “They’re a complete team. They do all the things you need to win ball games. They pitch it, they hit it and they defend it. But we’re playing real well right now, and we’ll get after them.”
If the Bobcats can get pitching like they had against Oak Forest, they’ll definitely have a chance. On Tuesday, it was senior Jeffrey Diamond who had the complete-game shutout; Thursday it was senior Holden Dykes who got the job done.
Dykes, a tall right-hander, allowed just three singles, struck out eight, did not walk a batter and hit one. More importantly, when the Yellowjackets had runners on base in the first four innings, Dykes was lights-out.
“I was freaking out for a minute there,” said Dykes. “But you just have go out there, calm down, and everything’s going to be all right. Once I get in a groove to start off with, everything else gets easy.”
Dykes (6-4) gave up a single to the first batter of the game, but Bobcat shortstop Nicholas Vance immediately got an unassisted double play to get PCS off the hook in the first inning.
The Yellowjackets got a runner to third in the second with one out on a hit batter and an error, but Dykes struck out the next two batters to get out of trouble.
OFA also got a runner to third in the fourth on a leadoff single, a stolen base and a wild pitch, but Dykes got three straight strikeouts, and coasted the rest of the way, retiring the last 12 batters he faced.
“With our pitchers, if we can throw strikes consistently, we can play with anybody,” said Hoffpauir. “We got ourselves in a bind in a couple of innings, but he made some big pitches, some big strikeout pitches, and got himself out of trouble. That’s what he’s done all year.”
PCS opened the season 0-6 but has now won eight of its last nine games. A big key in that turnaround has been timely hitting.
Tuesday, sophomore Wes Walters smacked a home run in the seventh inning to power the Bobcats. On Thursday, it was a big three-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth that gave PCS all the runs it would need.
With one out, junior Jake-Riley Gunn singled and went to second when sophomore Blake Wilberding drew a walk off OFA right-hander Brody Tate – the only walk issued by either pitcher.
Oak Forest got a flyball out, but junior Layton Pitts hit an opposite-field double just inside the left field line to drive in two runs. Conner Martin followed with a single through the hole on the left side to bring in the third run of the inning.
“I was trying to hit the ball on the ground, but it just flew,” said Pitts. “It was an outside fastball and I took it the other way.”
Despite being two of the team’s hottest hitters, Pitts and Martin were 4-for-5 out of the eighth and ninth spots in the Bobcats’ batting order, and Hoffpauir said that was by design.
“(Pitts) hit a little bump in the road midseason,” said Hoffpauir. “But he kept his head up, kept working hard and worked his way back in the lineup. He’s been our hottest hitter, and he’s just been tearing the cover off the ball lately.
“He’s one of those guys who can hit 1 or 2, or 8 or 9. He’s very versatile. He can hit the ball to all fields, and right now he’s playing well. If he can get on base down at the bottom of the order, it sets the table for the top of the order.”
The opening game of the second-round series will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday at PCS, with the second game, and third if needed, set for next Friday at MRA. The Bobcats dropped two out of three games in the regular-season series between the two teams, but all three games were close.
“I can’t wait,” said Pitts. “I felt like we should have taken all three when we went up there before, so I think we can take two next week.”
Read more of Stan Caldwell's work at stanmansportsfan.com
