4A No. 3 Gordo (8) vs. 4A No. 1 American Christian Academy (4)

TUSCALOOSA, AL - Two top 5 teams from 4A Area 6 were pitted against each other on Tuesday afternoon as the #3 Gordo Greenwave traveled to Tuscaloosa  to take on the #1 American Christian Academy Patriots. Alabama signee LHP Nathan Shelton (2021)  took the mound for the Patriots while the visiting Greenwave went with Preston Gregory (2022). The Green Wave would score 8 runs in the first two innings en route to an 8-4 victory.

The first inning was where the Greenwave would strike first, a leadoff single by Lawson Neel (2022) would set the tone for Gordo. After two strikeouts from Shelton, Ben Capps (2022) would draw a walk, where multiple wild pitches and passed balls would then plague the Patriots, allowing both runs to score. The bottom half of the inning, Chad Fendley (2021) would lead the Patriots off with a triple down the RF line. Alabama signee Hunter Sute (2021) would send him home with a single past the second baseman’s glove. 

Gordo would draw 2 walks, 3 HBP’s, and hit 2 singles from Oregon football commit (QB) Tanner Bailey (2022) and Caleb Jennings (2023), tacking on 6 runs to stretch their lead to 7 runs in the top of the 2nd when Weston Wright (2022) would take over the mound for the Patriots in relief. The Patriots had 2 doubles from Max Milligan (2022) and Fendley over the course of the next 2 innings, but they yielded no return as Gregory would work the Greenwave out of both jams.  

After a few innings of not much offense from both squads, ACA would finally strike again in the 5th inning. 5 straight batters reached base for the Patriots via a walk, a hit batter, and 3 singles from Carter Lockridge (2022), JP Brasfield (2021), and Sute. The Greenwave defense would step up to get them out of the inning as rightfielder Wells Perrigin (2021) would cut down an ACA runner at the plate to keep the game at 8-4. 

Despite ACA’s comeback attempt, the last two innings would be smooth sailing for Jesse Lang (2022), who entered the game for the Greenwave in the 5th to get them out of the jam, facing 7 batters and recording 6 outs in the last two innings to close the game out for Gordo.

 

Top Performers - Gordo

Preston Gregory 4 IP, 1 BB, 6 H, 4 R

Jesse Lang 3 IP, 2 BB, 2 H, 0 R

Lawson Neel 1-2 1B, BB, HBP, 2 R

Wells Perrigin 1-3, 1B, BB, R, RBI

Tanner Bailey 1-4, 1B, R, RBI

 

Top Performers - American Christian Academy

Chad Fendley 2-3 HBP, 2B, 3B, R

Hunter Sute 2-4 2 1B, 2 RBI

Max Milligan 1-1 2B, 2 BB, R

Weston Wright 5.2 IP, 3 K, 3 H, 0 R

 

 

6A No. 2 Helena (5) VS. 6A Chilton County (1)

HELENA, AL -  There were tons of exciting area games across the state on Tuesday night, with one of those being at Helena High School for a Class 6A Area 6 matchup. 6A No. 2 Helena came into the game with a perfect 4-0 record in area play and looked to lock up an area championship with a win on Tuesday night. Sitting behind Helena in the area standings, Chilton County entered with a 3-1 record after sweeping Pelham and splitting the series with Calera. Potential MLB Draft prospect LHP Pico Kohn (2021, Mississippi State) took the ball for the Tigers to try to level out the records at 4-1, while the Huskies countered with RHP Jacob Peters (2021, Southern Union CC).

After Peters tossed a quick and efficient 1st inning to start the game, the Huskies wasted no time jumping out to an early lead in the bottom half. As a left-handed hitter, SS Brody Moss (2021, Auburn) did a stellar job facing an elite southpaw in a tough matchup all night long. Leading things off, Moss caught a 2-0 fastball over the plate and drove it into the back side gap for a leadoff double. Moss advanced to 3rd on a dropped 3rd strike and eventually came home to score on an error by the 3rd baseman to stake Helena to an early 1-0 lead. 

Helena held that 1-0 lead through three innings of play, until the Tigers put together some timely hitting with two outs. SS Eian Headley (2022) led off the 4th inning with a walk, then advanced to 2nd base with two outs on a wild pitch. 1B Dylan Cullum (2021) snuck a ground ball through the right side to drive home Headley to give the Tigers their first run and hit of the contest. Things remained tied at 1-1 heading to the bottom of the 4th.

With the first two Helena hitters being retired to start the inning, the Huskies’ bottom of the lineup started up a two out rally in the 5th. After a walk and a single from OF Noah Gwin (2021), SS Brody Moss (2021, Auburn) came back up again and delivered in the clutch with a hard single hit to left field. This plated Gwin from 3rd base, and the Huskies added another run on a wild pitch to take a 3-1 to the 5th.

Meanwhile, RHP Jacob Peters (2021, Southern Union) was in complete command of the Tiger lineup. He used his three pitch mix really well to keep hitters off balance and ran his fastball up to 85 mph in the outing. He got another insurance run in the 5th on an error by the Tiger right fielder to extend their lead to 4-1. Chilton County seemed like they were going to try to cut the deficit in half with two runners on and one hit with the middle of the order due up, but a strikeout and a groundout induced by Peters squashed the rally in the 6th. Helena was able to manufacture another run in the bottom of the 6th with excellent execution and situational hitting. 

RHP Gavin Daniel (2021, Lawson State CC) came into the game in the 7th to relieve Peters of excellent work on the mound. After a leadoff single to right field, Daniel got three straight groundouts to retire the side in the 7th and give the Huskies a 5-1 victory over Chilton County. The Huskies win gave the 6A Area 6 Championship as they improved to 5-0 in area and 20-6 on the season. 

Top Performers - Helena

Brody Moss - 2-3, 2B, RBI, R, BB

Jacob Peters - W, 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB & 7 K’s

Noah Gwin - 1-2, R

 

Top Performers - Chilton County

Pico Kohn - 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB & 10 K’s

Eian Headley - 1-2, R, BB

Dylan Cullum - 1-3, RBI

 

7A No. 6 Sparkman (6) vs. 7A Grissom (2)

HARVEST, AL -  The 6^th ranked Sparkman Senators welcomed the Grissom Tigers on Tuesday night to start 7A Area 7 play. The home-standing Senators used a big blast off the bat of OF Jakob Lewis (2021, Southeast Missouri State) and a dominant pitching outing by RHP AJ Causey (2021, Jacksonville State). Causey was simply masterful as he hurled a 105 pitch complete game with 78 of those pitches being thrown for strikes. Causey scattered 5 hits and gave up 2 runs but neither of those were earned. He only walked 1 hitter and struck out 14 Tigers. Grissom sent RHP John Allen Stogner (2021, Wallace- Hanceville) to the mound and the senior turned in 5 innings of good work. Stogner only allowed 4 hits and struck out 4, but walked 5 Senators. Stogner allowed 6 runs (5 ER).

Grissom got on the board in the top half of the 1^st inning. Jack Carson (2022) singled to start the inning and would eventually score on a 2 out single from Ty Sanderson (2023) . The big moment in the game came in the home half of the 2^nd inning as Jacob Haley (2023) reached on an error and Will Buening (2021) and Kylan Duncan (2021) both drew walks. With one out in the inning, Lewis stepped to the plate and promptly delivered the first pitch he saw over the fence in left field to give the Senators a 4-1 lead. The Senators added 2 runs in the 3^rd inning as Haley delivered a 1 out single and junior Patrick Moody (courtesy runner for Haley) was driven in on a double by Buening making it 5-1. Tucker Burns (2022) singled to right field, moving Buening to third base as Duncan delivered a sacrifice fly to score the 6^th, and final run of the night for the Senators. Grissom added a run in the top of the 7^th inning as Dillon Cook (2021, Troy) reached on an error and scored one batter later as Gage Harmon (2022) doubled to give us the 6-2 final score.

Games 2 and 3 will be Thursday, April 8 at Grissom High School with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 PM.

 

Top Performers - Sparkman

AJ Causey - 7 IP (W), 5 hits, 2 runs (0 ER), 14 K, 1 BB

Jakob Lewis - 1-4, 1 HR (Grand Slam), 4 RBI, 1 run

Ryan Strachan - 1-1, 2 BB, 1 HBP

Will Buening - 1-2, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 runs 

Tucker Burns - 1-1, 1 BB, 1 Sac Bunt

 

Top Performers- Grissom

Ty Sanderson - 2-3, 1 RBI

Jack Carson - 2-4, 1 run 

Gage Harmon - 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI

 

 

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