Simpson outslugs PCA|Prep baseball
Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 10, 2010
Porters Chapel hit three home runs and scored 14 runs, but it could not overcome 23 free bases issued to visiting Simpson Academy Friday night at Pierce Field.
The Cougars made use of 15 walks, two hit batsmen and six Eagle errors to come out with a 21-14 win over the Eagles in a 31⁄2 hour marathon.
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“This game was something else,” said Simpson coach Brett Hederman. “I haven’t seen anything like this. I know both teams were trying to save pitching. We had two district games earlier this week and when we got the lead, we put in some guys to get some work in.”
PCA coach Jerry Bourne said five errors in the first three innings by his team wore out his starter Reed Gordon and forced him to burn up his bullpen.
“Reed’s such a fiery competitor, but when we make errors behind him, it’s tough on us. Then we had to go deep into our bullpen because we have Russell here (today at 2 p.m.) I thought our offense did well. We got good at bats and I was proud of our comeback in the seventh inning.”
The Eagles were down 21-8 at that point, but came back with six runs. John Michael Harris hit his second home run of the game to give him three this week and six this year. The two-run shot in the seventh made it 21-12. Kreuz Federick hit a two-run shot to account for the final.
Simpson (12-6) scored in every inning and batted around in both the sixth and seventh innings against PCA’s last two pitchers, who combined to walk nine and hit one. Gordon went four innings and allowed 10 runs, but only four earned off five hits, six walks and one hit batter.
Two errors at second staked the Cougars to an early 4-0 lead. They were up 10-4 when Gordon left after his four-inning stint.
Eight of Simpson’s nine batters scored at least two runs and all nine had at least one RBI. Cade Eiland, who had just one hit, knocked in five runs, three coming on a home run in the sixth inning that made it 16-7. Walt Prince had a double and scored four runs while leadoff man Andy Maddox had two hits and drove in three.
Austin White went four innings and allowed four runs off four hits and struck out four.
Matthew Warren led PCA going 4-for-5 with two runs scored. Harris drove in three off his two homers and also had a single. Federick drove in three off two hits and Jeff Hearn had a two-run single.
Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com