Eagles in unfamiliar spot as playoffs begin|[4/17/06]

Published 12:00 am Monday, April 17, 2006

After his team split a doubleheader and lost the MPSA District 4-A championship to Tri-County, Porters Chapel Academy coach Randy Wright joked that he didn’t remember how to prepare for the playoffs as a No. 2 seed.

It has been a long time since the Eagles were in this position – 2000, to be exact. PCA was in the second year of its string of eight straight playoff appearances, and most of its current players were still in elementary school.

Thanks to a difference of one run in that doubleheader with Tri-County, however, PCA is once again a No. 2 seed. The Eagles (18-8-1) will open the playoffs Tuesday night at 7 at Benton Academy – the team that eliminated them last season – and face a much tougher road through the postseason than in previous years.

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&#8220We’re just going to have to travel that first game every time and play the number one seed every time. We definitely put ourselves behind the 8-ball,” Wright said. &#8220It’s going to be as tough as it could possibly be. Benton in the first round is as tough a matchup as we could have.”

The difficulty of the matchup may be compounded by the Eagles themselves. The team has lacked a spark at times this season, resulting in a rollercoaster campaign in which they may score 10 runs one game and get shut out the next.

It has been a frustrating process for Wright. He acknowledges that 18 wins and a playoff berth would be an outstanding season for most programs, while wondering just how good the Eagles could be if they bring their &#8220A” game every night.

The divide between the &#8220good” and &#8220bad” Eagles was clear in Friday’s regular-season finale. PCA banged out 14 hits in an 11-1 win over Carroll Academy, then managed only four in an 8-2 loss to Hillcrest in the second game of a doubleheader.

&#8220We just have to be focused when we get to the ballpark,” Wright said. &#8220If we’re focused when we get to the ballpark we have a pretty good team.”

Facing Benton should be enough to keep the Eagles focused, at least for one round.

The Raiders beat PCA in three games in a second-round series last season, denying the Eagles a third straight trip to the MPSA Class A finals. Benton later lost in the North State finals.

The Eagles got a small measure of revenge by crushing Benton 39-0 in the first round of the football playoffs, but PCA second baseman Cole Smith said it’d be sweeter to beat the Raiders in baseball.

&#8220They beat us in baseball. We always want to beat them in the same sport they put us out in,” Smith said.