It was a big test for the Winston Academy Patriots on the diamond last week when they went up against District 2-AAA contender Starkville Academy in a double-header that could have some big conference implications.
The Patriots came out on the wrong side of both of their games on Tuesday as SA got it done on the mound and at the plate for 6-2 and 12-5 wins. The losses dropped WA to 11-6 overall and 2-3 in district play after starting the year 11-2.
In game one of the series, SA took an early 3-0 lead in the first two innings before the Patriots got on board thanks to a couple of errors to cut the lead to 3-1. SA came back with a two-run home run in the fifth inning that would prove to put the Patriots away as only Hunter Gregory’s RBI single in the seventh with two outs provided any more runs.
Immediately following that ball game, the Patriots came out fighting. In the first inning, Gregory struck again with his RBI single and Jody McCorkle had a two-run single that gave the Patriots an early 3-0 lead.
That was short-lived, however, as SA dropped six runs in during the bottom of the first as they swung the bats well to answer. WA couldn’t score again until the sixth inning with a bases loaded error scoring two runs.
On the season, the Patriots are led by Hayze Gregory at the plate with a .571 batting average. They have four more players batting over .400 in Aiden Fancher, Noah Dempsey, Jett Joiner and Josh Mcginnis. Dempsey is the leader of that crew with his .442 mark and Mcginnis leads the team in hits (22) and RBI (21).
Freshman pitcher Spencer Wilson has been among the most reliable hurlers for the Pats this season with his 2-0 record, 2.68 ERA and team-leading 17 strikeouts in 15.2 innings.
It’s the heart of district play for the Patriots and they’re going to have to dig down deep over the next couple of weeks to make some noise late in the season.
The Patriots hosted game three of the series against SA on Monday in a game that was played after press time. They’ll finish up the week with a huge series against rival Leake Academy beginning with another road double-header that took place on Tuesday in Madden and game three of the series will be back in Louisville on Thursday.
