PCA gets redemption|Warren’s home run helps Eagles quench Flames

Published 12:00 am Sunday, March 28, 2010

For PCA pitcher Matt Warren, who earlier in the week walked in the winning run against University Christian, redemption was just a clutch performance away.

Warren pitched out of several jams in his five innings of work and ripped a two-run home run to supply the margin of victory in a 4-3 PCA win over University Christian on Saturday.

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The victory was one the Eagles (6-5, 5-1 District 5-A) needed, especially with a home-and-home against district-leading Calvary Christian coming up this week. The victory put some needed breathing room between third-place University Christian (9-7, 4-4) and PCA, as the top two teams in each district make the postseason.

“This win for us is huge,” PCA coach Jerry Bourne said. “This puts us in good shape in the district. Our guys came out and played a good game when they knew that they had to play a good game. Matt showed up today. That was a huge, clutch hit in a big spot for us.”

Warren allowed only two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and he finished 2-for-2, reaching safely in all three trips to the batter’s box.

It was a win the Eagles tried to give away in the seventh. Reliever John Michael Harris was undone by a crucial error on a routine throw to first, allowing leadoff hitter Dillon Chappell to reach. With one out, Landon Perkins sharply lined a shot over Jeff Hearn’s head to score Chappell and cut the PCA lead to 4-3. A double play turned into a fielder’s choice with another miscue. A second error at first allowed Cody Grogan to reach with two outs, but Harris induced a weak tapper to the mound to end the game and pick up the save for PCA.

Pitching out of jams was something that both Harris and Warren did with aplomb. Warren faced his biggest challenge in the University Christian fourth, when the bases loaded up with two outs after an RBI single by Geg Moore. Despite walking seven-hole hitter Seth Pearce, Warren induced a slow roller back to the mound for the third out and a game tied at 2.

The scene was repeated again in the fifth after Warren yielded a leadoff single to Brandon Waltman. Conner Smith singled in Waltman and the bases loaded after Smith’s single, another single to Perkins and a walk by Michael Allen. Warren was bailed out when PCA first baseman Cameron Upton gloved a liner and caught the runner off first for a quick twin-killing to stifle the threat with just one run scored.

The Eagles got half of their runs in the bottom of the second. Kreuz Federick led off the frame with a single and Hearn beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt into another hit. An error allowed Federick to score and Montana McDaniel drove in Hearn off a sacrifice fly to put PCA up 2-0 after two.

The contest would remain tied at 2 until the PCA fifth.

With two outs, Warren came up after Colby Rushing ripped a liner through the gap. He took the second pitch he saw from Chappell and crushed it over the right-field fence up onto the roadway above for a 4-2 lead and a bow of thanks from Rushing at the plate.

“I was just trying to get a base hit and get Colby in,” Warren said. “I thought I was going to just get a double and it just kept going.”

Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com