Gulfport grabs early lead on WC|[4/30/05]

Published 12:00 am Monday, May 2, 2005

Warren Central touched Gulfport’s ace pitcher for 10 hits Friday night and the Vikings will still have to fight for their playoff lives tonight.

The Admirals (23-9) scored two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to overcome WC, 6-4, in the first game of the Class 5A state playoffs second round.

Game 2 is scheduled for tonight at 7 in Gulfport.

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“This is a huge win, especially up here,” said Gulfport pitcher Tyler McCabe, who pitched a complete game to earn the victory. “Our guys did a great job behind me making all the plays and our batters got the key hits when we needed them.”

Warren Central had runners in scoring position in every inning except two, but stranded six and had three thrown out at third base and one at second.

“We had 10 hits against their ace, but we didn’t make the plays to win,” said WC’s Ryan Grey, who went 4-for-4 with a double and an RBI. “If we can make the plays, we’ll be able to come back.”

Gulfport has been coming back all season and Friday was no different.

McCabe and WC’s Drew Warnock matched each other for four scoreless innings before the Admirals got a run in the top of the fifth on a bases-loaded hit batter.

Nick Carson led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk, stole second and scored on a Ben Koestler single to tie the game at 1. Koestler was thrown out trying to stretch the single into a double.

Zach Balthrop then reached on an error and Josh Gordon, who came into the game hitting .625 in the postseason, belted a monstrous home run to deep left center for a 3-1 Vikings lead.

“I was down in the count and tried to get a fastball by him,” McCabe said. “He hit it a mile.”

The lead was short-lived in a wild sixth inning. WC assistant coach Jeff Wood argued a check swing call with the first base umpire and was restricted to the dugout before being thrown out of the game one pitch later.

Warnock walked Blake Riggins and was replaced by Eric Douglas, who gave up a double to Mark Noble to put runners on second and third. A groundout and an error led to two runs as Gulfport tied the game at 3.

Getting to the second round of the playoffs has been full of Admiral comebacks. They trailed Pascagoula 6-1 in the deciding third game in the opening round of the playoffs before scoring seven runs over the final five innings to secure the victory.

In the regular season, Gulfport strung together 10 hits in a row to defeat Biloxi and earn the Division 8-1A championship.

“We’ve been down what seems like every series,” Gulfport coach Michael Lindsey said. “We’ve been battling back from two, three, four run deficits since about four weeks ago. Our kids show a lot of character and never give up.”

McCabe retired WC in order in the sixth and the Admirals’ offense scored three more runs on three hits and an error to take a 6-3 lead.

Grey’s RBI single in the seventh pulled WC to within two, but McCabe coaxed a fly ball by Warnock to end the game.

“He had one more batter,” Lindsey said of McCabe. “He did a good job getting him out when he needed it.”

Koestler had three singles and an RBI for WC for the only other batter besides Grey with multiple hits.

Bo Bell singled twice and Noble doubled in Gulfport’s six-hit attack.

The Vikings will throw Parker White in tonight’s game.

“The good thing about these playoffs is that they are best two out of three,” Broome said. “We have to go down there and take care of business on Saturday for a chance to see McCabe here on Thursday.

“We know we can hit him, so our challenge will be to win tomorrow and do our best to beat him on Thursday.”