St. Aloysius can’t seal the deal against Sumrall
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 21, 2010
SUMRALL — For a few fleeting moments, St. Aloysius had the dream in its grasp.
It had the lead. Its ace was pitching well. The breaks were going its way.
And then the All-Americans did what they do. The pitcher who was featured in last week’s “Sports Illustrated” did what he does. And Sumrall does what it does— win.
Sumrall, the team that had its state-record 67-game winning streak snapped Saturday, started a new one with an 8-2 victory over St. Al on Tuesday. Jackson Posey allowed five hits and one earned run in a complete game, and Tyler Simmons had a pair of doubles and an RBI.
It was the sixth loss in eight games for St. Al (13-6). Yet, afterward, its players and coaches found plenty to be happy with. They took an early lead and held their own against the team ranked No. 1 in Mississippi and No. 4 in the country by USA Today.
“I liked our intensity. We get some timely hits, that’s the difference in the game. At one point it would’ve been a 5-5 game if we get a hit. We went toe to toe with them,” St. Al coach Clint Wilkerson said. “I’m a coach. I can’t stand losing. I think we should win every game we play. But I’m proud of the effort. If we play like that with the teams we have left, we’re going to go a long way.”
Sumrall’s winning streak ended Saturday with a 5-1 loss to Class 6A power Oak Grove. The next team on the schedule was St. Al and, early on, it seemed possible the Flashes could turn the Bobcats’ first loss in more than two years into a bonafide losing streak.
In the top of the third inning, Brendan Beesley grounded a two-out single to right field and Pierson Waring followed with an RBI triple into the right field corner. Blake Haygood then hit a bouncing grounder to third that took a funky hop on Simmons, scooted past him and into left field. Waring scored easily to give the Flashes a 2-1 lead.
“That was exciting,” said St. Al pitcher Stephen Evans. “At one point we hung with the best team in the state.”
The lead was short-lived. After hitting into two double plays in the first two innings, Sumrall (26-1) started hitting the ball where St. Al couldn’t get it.
The Bobcats regained the lead with two runs in the third, then stretched it to 6-2 with three more in the fourth on an RBI single by Austin Carter, an RBI ground-rule double by Simmons and an RBI groundout by Chase Lewellen.
Posey — whose picture appeared in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of “Sports Illustrated” last week — added to the lead with an RBI single in the fifth inning and eventually scored on an error to make it 8-2.
“We were in a situation where it was almost like our first game. It had been so long since we lost that it was all new. We had a good practice (Monday) but without a doubt, that was a letdown,” Sumrall coach Larry Knight said. “We knew they had a good team and would play us well. It was good for us to play this game.”
It was good for St. Al, too. Although Posey kept them in check most of the night, the Flashes had a chance to make a game of it in the fifth inning.
With the score still 6-2, Beesley was hit by a pitch and Waring singled. An outfield error allowed both to move up a base, putting runners at second and third with two outs. Posey struck out Haygood to end the threat, though. St. Al only had one baserunner the rest of the way — Matthew Foley, who singled with two outs in the seventh and then was picked off first.
Even so, the Flashes found more to smile about than they had in recent weeks. The early lead, the chance to make it a game later, and staying close most of the way gave the slumping defending Class 1A champions a confidence boost heading into the final week of the regular season.
“We feel like we’re playing like we’re supposed to be playing, like we were last year,” Evans said. “Just knowing that if we have a chance to win this game, we can beat anybody.”
Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com