Rain has been a factor almost weekly this Spring for baseball and softball teams around the state and it has certainly disrupted a lot of Winston Academy’s season.
The last two weeks, the Patriots have tried to find a way to get Starkville Academy at their place but it hasn’t been meant to be. WA had two separate games postponed in the return matchup with the Volunteers after SA beat them in a double-header two weeks ago.
While they didn’t get a chance to finish that series, the Patriots did face off against rival Leake Academy in a three-game slate last week that included two road games and a game back at home. WA won the first ball game but fell in back-to-back contests to lose the series and fall to 12-8 and 3-5 in District 2-AAA play.
The Patriots went to Madden on a four-game losing streak and they played like a desperate team right away in game one. WA jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning before watching Leake chip away with a run in the second and third innings and another one in the fourth to cut the lead to 5-3. WA answered back with a knockout blow scoring a run in the fifth and five more in the sixth for the 11-6 win.
It was another strong game at the plate from the Patriot offense as they racked up 16 hits. Bryce Waggoner led the way going 4-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI. Aiden Fancher was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a walk and Noah Dempsey, Josh McGinnis, Brian Woodward and Spencer Wilson all had two hits each. Woodward had a game-high three RBI in the win.
On the mound, it was a big day for Brylee Wall. The freshman hurled 4.2 innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts and just one wall. Waggoner threw 2.1 innings, gave up four hits, one run and also struck out four.
Errors would be the demise of the Patriots in the second game as they got a strong start from McGinnis. The junior held a 1-0 lead for the Patriots until the fifth inning when Leake scored two runs. After scoring three in the top of the sixth, the Patriots would give up a five-spot in the bottom of the inning and it was too much to overcome as they got two runs in the seventh but were a run short of tying things up in a 7-6 loss.
Mcginnis gave up just four hits in 5.0 innings and one earned run but five of the runs that came across were unearned. Meanwhile, the Patriot offense was again getting the job done with 11 more hits on the day led by two-hit games from Jody McCorckle, Jennings Fulton, Mcginnis and Waggoner. Hunter Gregory, McCorkle and Mcginnis all hit doubles as well.
In the decisive third game, the unearned runs came back up to haunt the Patriots again. Wilson and Gregory combined to surrender just six hits and four earned runs through seven innings, but nine unearned runs did the trick in what would be a 13-6 win for the Rebels.
For the third time in the series, Winston had a lead as they were up 4-1, but the wheels came off late again as Leake to a 6-4 lead and blew it open with six runs in the sixth. WA had just three hits in the loss.
WA is closing out the regular season with defending district champions Heritage starting with two games that took place on Tuesday evening. They’ll go play game three on Thursday in Columbus at 6 p.m.
