TABOR CITY — After a pair of close victories in the first two rounds of the NCHSAA 2A state baseball playoffs, South Columbus coach Bradley Strickland challenged his team ahead of its game against St. Pauls on Wednesday.
“I wanted our guys to jump on (St. Pauls), come out here and swing the bats like we’ve done the whole year,” Strickland said.
Message received.
The No. 17 Stallions earned a decisive 9-2 win over the 24th-seeded Bulldogs, taking its third game from the Three Rivers Conference foe this season.
South Columbus used a four-run second inning to jump on St. Pauls out of the gate and added insurance with two runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth to take a commanding 9-0 lead, leaving the outcome never in doubt.
“The Three Rivers Conference has the best baseball in the state,” Strickland said. “It’s hard to beat a good team three times and St. Pauls is playing some great baseball. I knew we would have our hands full and felt like it would come down to who scored first and kept tacking on.”
Coupled with an impressive offensive performance was a pitching gem by Francis Marion signee Garrett Wilson, who threw a complete game to earn the victory. After allowing a double in the opening frame, Wilson retired the next 11 batters and didn’t face trouble until the seventh inning, where he gave up four of St. Pauls’ six hits.
“I was the most nervous tonight than I have been all year,” Strickland said. “We got a little cushion and I was just hoping Garrett would keep his focus on the mound, along with the defense behind him. We got it done.”
Wilson was efficient on the mound, striking out two batters and forcing 13 groundouts.
While everything seemed to be working for the Stallions, St. Pauls struggled to minimize the damage, finishing with four errors and just two hits prior to the seventh inning.
“I reckon I had a poor gameplan,” said St. Pauls coach Kelly Chavis. “We know they’re a fastball-hitting team. I felt like Dawson (Caulder) could keep them off balance for at least four innnings, but offensively we put it in play and it wasn’t hard hits. Give credit to pitcher for that, we kind of got ourselves out.”
Caulder was yanked after 1 1/3 innings, allowing four runs. The spurt was ignited by a misplayed double-play ball in the second inning. Jay Wright opened the scoring with an RBI single to center field. South Columbus scored three more runs on a single, passed ball and sacrifice fly. J.J. Oxendine came in for relief the rest of the way.
“We misplayed a ball that we normally make a play on,” Chavis said. “I felt that Dawson started pressing after that and couldn’t get back in a groove.”
Landon Stocks finished with a game-high four RBIs to lead South Columbus, with Mason Miller adding three hits. Half of the Stallions’ hits came from the bottom of the order.
“Our bottom-half guys have got it done the whole postseason,” Strickland said. “There’s a lot of superstition in baseball so I don’t want to move them up. Hopefully we can keep it going in the fourth round.
“We’ve got to stay focused. If we can do that, we can play with anybody. Pound the zone and play some solid defense”
South Columbus will play at No. 4 Edenton Holmes on Friday.
Caulder finished with a team-best two hits for St. Pauls. Oxendine, Chay Locklear, Brad Locklear and Noah Wheeler finished with one hit each.
South Columbus extended its lead with two runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Stocks and a single by Robbie Spencer. The Stallions took their biggest lead in the fifth on a two-run hit by Stocks, giving them a 9-0 cushion.
Noah Wheeler put St. Pauls on the board in the seventh inning with an RBI single. Kota Bullard followed with a sacrifice fly for the second run, but Wilson got out of the threat with a groundball to end the Bulldogs’ season.
With 15 wins, including a pair of playoff victories, Chavis is pleased with the team’s progress after a winless 2015 campaign.
“Nobody expected us to be here but us,” he said. “We truly believed we deserved to be here. We had a great season. Fifteen wins? Nobody expected that out of this group of guys.
“But that sets the bar extremely high for next year. We believe we have a chance for something really special next season.
