Fox Creek baseball came back from an early deficit to walk off Strom Thurmond on Tuesday night to force a region championship.
“I’m at a loss for words right now,” said head coach Roby Gillespie. “It was awesome. Great atmosphere out here, too.”
Patience was the name of the game for the Predators after failing to capitalize on scoring opportunities in the first five innings. Fox Creek’s bats got hot at the wrong times, getting runners on base with two outs but not being able to bring them home.
“Thurmond, they got the timely hits all night,” Gillespie said. “They started that from the get-go. They had two big two-out hits I think in the third inning and that's how they scored those two runs. They just had timely hits and then, we were telling the guys to be patient at the plate, be patient at the plate, the ball is going to come to you.”
The tides began to turn for Fox Creek in the sixth inning. Strom Thurmond came into the bottom of the inning with a 6-3 lead, and the Predators were running out of time for a comeback.
Fox Creek started the inning by getting two runners on with a single and a hit-by-pitch. Catcher Chance Weathersbee tripled to right field to bring both runners home and cut the Rebels' lead down to one.
“Kind of got us in a position with no outs with a runner at third in a one run ball game,” Gillespie said. “I knew that we were going to tie it up right there with either a sacrifice squeeze or safety squeeze or some sort of play. Ended up Will Fountain hit a big ground ball to the backside to tie the game.”
Bradley Anderson started on the mound for the Predators, striking out eight in five innings with three walks and allowing five runs on five hits. Devin Hillary took over for him in the sixth inning, allowing one run on two hits with five strikeouts.
Hillary came out to pitch a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to set Fox Creek up to walk off with a win.
Infielder Hank Greene led off with a single to get the winning run on base but after two more outs, the Predators were desperate for a timely hit. The Rebels intentionally walked Weathersbee to bring out Fountain, who hit a pop fly into right field.
The ball hung in the air as Strom Thurmond’s right fielder came together with the first baseman to catch it. The ball fell between them to allow Fountain to reach first, bringing home the winning run.
“They fought just like I expected they would,” said Strom Thurmond head coach Nathan Horton. “I knew Coach Gillespie was going to have those guys ready and they were going to play hard.”
Strom Thurmond would have won the region outright with a win on Tuesday, but will have another chance at home on Friday. Horton said while this loss hurts for the Rebels, they plan to move on and start preparing for Friday.
“The season's not over,” he said. “There's still a chance for us to win the region and have a good game on Friday. And hopefully continue to get better as we move towards the playoffs, but just got to have a good day tomorrow. It all starts with that.”
For Gillespie, two of his biggest goals in his first year coaching the Predators were to win the region and have a chance to start the playoffs at home. With this win against Strom Thurmond, he checks off the latter.
“We were up here early on, we're not in school this week,” he said. “We're up here at 11 o'clock today, working out and doing all the stuff they normally do on a school day. So they've been locked in since 11 o'clock this morning. These guys, I love this group. They're so locked in right now. I love it.”
Both teams will face off at Strom Thurmond at 6 p.m. Friday to decide the winner of Region 3-AA.
