Eagles split with Flames

Published 12:00 am Friday, April 3, 2009

FLOWOOD — There’s no one named Jekyll, nor Hyde in Porters Chapel Academy’s lineup. The Eagles do have two distinct personalities, though, and both were on display Thursday.

PCA rallied for four runs in the sixth inning to beat University Christian 4-2, a win that all but wrapped up a playoff berth. In the second game of the doubleheader, Caleb Kellum and Mark Kaplan both homered and drove in three runs as University Christian run-ruled the Eagles 13-3.

“It’s like Coach (Randy) Wright says, we’re either way up here or way down here,” PCA third baseman Reed Gordon said as he stretched his arms far apart. “In that 15 minutes between games we fell way down here and couldn’t get back up.”

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For most of game one, Kaplan kept PCA down. The hard-throwing right-hander struck out the first six batters of the game, and finished with 15. Dillon Chappell drove in two runs with a pair of doubles, and the Flames (9-10, 7-3) took a 2-0 lead into the sixth.

They missed a chance for more when a runner was called out for missing second base in the fifth, and the miscue gave PCA (11-6, 7-2) a spark.

Montana McDaniel led off the sixth with a double, then scored on a single by Colby Rushing. Joe Borrello drove in the tying run with a double, then scored on an error to put the Eagles ahead 3-2. Reed Gordon, who had reached on the error that allowed Borrello to score, stole second and came around on a pair of wild pitches to make it 4-2.

McDaniel, PCA’s ace, then retired the Flames without incident in the last two innings to preserve the victory. McDaniel went the distance, walking one while scattering eight hits and striking out eight.

As thrilling as the win was, game two was an epic disaster for the Eagles. University Christian took advantage of three errors, a solo homer by Kellum and a two-run shot by Kaplan to streak to a 12-0 lead after 2 1/2 innings.

Kellum and Kaplan both finished the game 3-for-4. PCA committed six errors.

Despite the ugly loss, PCA is still in good shape to reach the playoffs for the 11th straight season. It needs to beat Veritas — a team it crushed 21-3 last month — tonight at home, then sweep two games from Rebul Academy next week to finish second.

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com