PURVIS – Tornadoes coach Tony Farlow thought his team looked tight during the afternoon leading up to Monday’s Game 3 with St. Stanislaus.
It didn’t take long to loosen up, however, because the Purvis Tornadoes punched their ticket to the third round of the 4A playoffs with a 12-2, five-inning win over the Rock-a-Chaws.
“I mean, what do you tell them? We haven’t been in this position all year,” Farlow said. “We’ve been relaxed and a little bit goofy at times. I think we were a little tight coming into it. I would like to think we were a little bit more focused, but that’s the way it is from here on out. Every game is huge and every game is important, so I’m proud of the guys for bouncing back tonight.”
Purvis will take on the East Central Hornets (22-4) starting Thursday. The schedule isn’t set, but Purvis will host Game 1 Thursday and, if necessary, Game 3 Saturday. Game 2, of course, will be played at East Central Friday night.
The Tornadoes got the scoring going early, pushing two runs across without recording a hit in the first inning. Senior Trenton Flatt led off the frame with a walk before sophomore Dakota Lee was hit by a pitch to quickly put two runners on base with no outs.
Sophomore Jesse Johnson and junior Casey Burge walked during the next two at-bats to score the first run, then junior Parker Sharff appeared to foul a pitch off his foot with the bases loaded. As the ball rolled into fair territory, Sharff didn’t run to first base. Instead, he limped off to the side while the home plate umpire didn’t make a call. A run scored, but the St. Stanislaus infield threw down to first to get Sharff for the first out and the defense got another runner out on the base paths due to the confusion.
After the dust settled, Purvis led 2-0 through the first inning.
“We felt like we squandered an opportunity in the first inning, rolling into that play the way it turned out,” Farlow said. “We thought we had a chance for a big inning there, but it didn’t work out.”
The lead was extended in the third after junior Mason Kendrick sent a two-out bouncer to shortstop that was thrown away. Kendrick looked to have beaten the throw anyway, and the play ended with Johnson coming home to make it a 3-0 game.
In the fourth and fifth innings, the Tornadoes hung crooked numbers on the board to force the 10-run rule.
With the 3-0 lead and the bases loaded in the fourth, senior Nathan Lott scored on a passed ball, and Sharff laced a single to plate two more runs to make it a 6-0 game. St. Stanislaus scratched a couple of runs across in the top of the fifth to cut Purvis’ lead to 6-2, but it left the bases juiced to end the inning.
The Tornadoes’ bats would heat up even more in the bottom half of the inning, however. Senior Collin McQueen’s double scored the first of six runs for Purvis in the frame, then Flatt’s single loaded the bases with no outs. Lee drove a ball to the wall, which resulted in a sacrifice fly to make it an 8-2 game, and Johnson picked up a couple of RBI on a single to push ahead 10-2.
During the next at-bat, Sharff sent a pitch to the right-center wall that scored two more runs, which ended the game due to the run-rule.
Sharff collected five RBI on a 2-for-4 performance, while McQueen also had a two-hit day from the eighth spot in the batting order. From his catcher position, Sharff also threw out a couple of St. Stanislaus base runners trying to steal, too. His played cut short a few St. Stanislaus rallies to keep the visitors off the board.
Senior Keyshawn Bolar started the game on the bump and pitched 4.2 innings and he gave up two runs on five hits with a couple of strikeouts and six walks.
“I’m proud of the guys for coming back tonight, and we live to play another day,” Farlow said.
