Scots Rally in Eighth for 6-5 Victory, Boost Win Streak to 11
MARYVILLE – Maryville hung around just enough here Friday night and finally broke through. Head coach Clint Helton called it "finding ways to win."
The Scots rallied for three runs in the last of the eighth inning against a determined LaGrange squad to prevail 6-5 in Game 1 of a crucial three-game series. Maryville lowered its magic number for clinching the Collegiate Conference of the South regular season title to three with the win.
Any combination of Maryville wins and Piedmont losses clinches the Scots' regular season crown and earns them hosting duties for the CCS Tournament, which begins April 30. Maryville ends its season next weekend at Piedmont. The Lions won 9-6 Thursday night at Huntingdon to stay just three games behind the Scots.
"You just have to find a way to win," Maryville head coach Clint Helton said. "When you don't play your best game, you have to find a way to win, and these guys can do it.
"They just talk about slowing the game down, focusing on the pitch. You can't do anything about the last one and then definitely can't do anything about the next one, so you've got to focus on this pitch. They did an excellent job of hanging in there and minimizing mistakes and just finding ways to win."
Five Hits in the Eighth
Maryville's winning rally saw the Scots produce five of their 11 hits and score the deciding run on a crazy bases-loaded situation that looked like an error, but by scoring rules was not.
Brayden Evans led off with a single to right, and Matt Hall followed with a bunt base hit, with both runners moving up 90 feet after the LaGrange pitcher threw wildly past first trying to retire Hall. Reece Jordan then stroked a single to right center to tie the game 5-5.
After a LaGrange pitching change, the Panthers caught Jordan trying to steal second. But Colin Dunworth and Ashton Whiteaker kept the rally going with a back-to-back singles to left.
Frank Derner walked and then Det Dettwiller lofted a one-out fly ball to shallow left field. The LaGrange left fielder dropped the ball and Dunworth raced home with the go-ahead run. LaGrange on the play recorded a force out at third, so there was no error and Dettwiller with his fielder's choice earned his second RBI of the game.
In fact, while there were a combined six errors between the two teams, all 11 runs were earned. Maryville left 12 runners on base, including eight in the first four innings, while LaGrange left 10 on base.
Tough Luck Early
"We hit the ball hard early in the game and left guys on base," Helton said. "Hit them right at people, so we were competing at the plate. We just needed to keep getting guys on base and needed to execute later in the game. We did that and we cashed in."
The Scots scored first but then trailed for most of this contest as the Panthers put their credentials as the CCS' top hitting team on display. LaGrange scored runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take a 4-1 lead against Maryville starter Kyle Timko. MC trimmed that to 4-3 with two runs of their own in the fifth.
Then the bullpens settled in until LaGrange added to its lead with a run in the eighth before the Maryville magic struck once again.
"Timko battled, and the biggest thing was he managed the game," Helton said. "That is two weeks in a row where he has managed the game well. And you just know he's going to give us a chance."
Timko went six innings and scattered four runs on eight hits, striking out three. Xavier Resto pitched the final two innings for the victory, halting the LaGrange rally in the eighth with just one run scored and then escaping his own mini-jam in the ninth. It was his third win of the season.
Resto Was Hot, Got Job Done
Helton said the decision to stay with Resto in the ninth was an easy one.
"Yeah, matchup-wise, he's already hot and what we've seen from him and what we were looking at coming up in the lineup – we have a lot of faith in our bullpen," Helton said. "It was a good matchup with the lefty, and you know he's going to compete.
"All these guys, they go out there and they compete, and they are playing for each other right now and it's cool to see."
Maryville with its 11th straight win improved to 26-8 overall and 12-1 in the CCS. The Scots last lost 5-2 to Sewanee on March 25. LaGrange is at 15-19 and 7-6.
Game 2 is Friday at 2 p.m. from Scotland Yard.