O'Donnell And Neely Pitch Churchill Past Vandergrift In Game 1

By Colter Bostick
PBR Texas Scout

Friday, May 5

AUSTIN, TX – The Churchill Chargers and Vandegrift Vipers opened up 6A playoffs with a hard-fought contest. Churchill’s right-handed ace, Nico O’Donnell (2017 Midland College commit) and Vandegrift’s senior RHP, Erik Miller, took the mound.

The Chargers were able to draw first blood in the top of the second when senior Jordon Billups scored on a sac-fly from senior Grant Gomez. Churchill scored again on an RBI single by junior Sam Serchay, and added a third run in the fifth when Serchay drove in another run.

Vandegrift trailed for most of the game, scratching out a lone run in the bottom of the third after three consecutive singles, including an RBI single from Justin Moore. Vandergrift would eventually tie the game in the fifth on RBI singles from Grant Pressell and Myles Mylet.

Both starters went seven innings, but Eric Miller returned to the mound in the eighth for Vandergrift. Churchill scored one in the top half of the eighth when Jordon Billups reached on an error and scored on a passed ball.

The one-run lead was all Churchill needed as they handed the ball over to junior right-hander Jack Neely. Neely, a Texas recruit, yielded a lone single in his inning, but slammed the door shut with two consecutive strikeouts to earn the save. Churchill 4, Vandergrift 3.

STATS

Churchill
N. O’Donnell: 7 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 11 K
J. Neely: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K
S. Serchay: 2-4, 2 RBI
A. DeLeon: 2-3, R
J. Billups: 1-3, 2 R

Vandegrift
E. Miller: 8 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 7 K, 2 BB
G. Pressel: 2-4, RBI
J. Moore: 2-4, R, RBI
M. Mylet: 2-4, RBI