By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
HATTIESBURG – William Carey got a rather rude wake-up call this weekend in its first Southern States Athletic Conference series of the 2023 season.
Hosting Talladaga (Ala.) College at Milton Wheeler Field to open SSAC play, the Crusaders dropped two of three games on the weekend and find themselves underwater in the league standings.
After dropping the series opener Friday 6-2, Carey came back to win the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader 11-3, but fell apart after a fast start in the nightcap, losing 6-4.
WCU, ranked No. 21 in the first NAIA Coaches Poll of the season this past week, fell to 16-6 overall. Talladega, which defeated Carey for the first time in program history, came out of the weekend 12-9-1 overall and 3-3 in conference.
“Give them credit; they made all the plays,” said Carey head coach Bobby Halford. “Baseball is a game of momentum, and we just gave them the momentum and, all of a sudden, they just took it over.”
The Crusaders jumped all over the Tornadoes in Saturday’s seven-inning opener with a run in the first inning and three in the second.
Carey opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning after two were out. Junior Jake Lysette singled to rightfield, then senior Bailee Hendon went the other way for a double to left, and Lysette came all the way around to score from first.
It was the start of a big day for Lysette, who was 5 of 7 and drove in four runs in the two games, lifting his batting average to .375.
“I’ve kind of changed my approach lately to just hit the ball back to the pitcher’s face as hard as I can,” said Lysette. “I’ve been trying to stay middle and middle away, and I think I’m seeing the ball pretty well right now.”
Talladega freshman right-hander Michael Gonzalez (2-1) got two quick outs in the second, but sophomore Brady Logan, batting in the 9-hole, poked a single to left, then senior R.J. Stinson turned on a 1-2 fastball and drove it well into the trees beyond the leftfield fence.
Senior Patrick Lee drew a walk, and Lysette went to the opposite field for a gapper to the wall in left-centerfield for a run-scoring triple and a 4-0 lead.
“We were able to jump on the pitches when we could and get those runs in when we had the opportunity,” said Stinson. “It was a fastball up, and I was able to keep my hands back and drive the ball, and it got out.”
That was all the help junior right-hander Andrew Shirah needed. The transfer from Coastal Alabama Community College was stout in handcuffing the Tornadoes. He pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowed six hits, two runs, struck out six, walked two and had three hit batters.
The performance by Shirah (3-1) and a long successful relief outing from junior Preston Ratliff in the nightcap were among the positives that Crusader coach Bobby Halford took from Saturday’s results.
“Those two guys provided a real shot in the arm for us,” Halford said. “I thought they pitched exceptionally well. We pitched well enough to win both games today, but defensively, it was not a good day.”
Shirah was in trouble in the third inning and later in the fifth but got out of it both times.
In the third, Talladega loaded the bases with one out on three bloop singles, but Shirah got force out at the plate on a ground ball to third then got the third out on an infield popup to Lysette at first base.
With one out in the fifth, Shirah got himself in a bases-loaded jam with two hit batters and a walk but got himself out of it with a sharp grounder to junior Brady Wilson at third, who fired home for one out, and Logan made the relay for the double play to end the inning.
“The change-up was really good,” said Shirah. “I throw a sinker and it had a lot of depth today. I was getting a lot of early outs on ground balls. I had all three pitches working for me, and when you can get three pitches over for strikes, it helps you work deep in the game.”
Wilson and junior Billy Garrity each had RBI singles in the fourth, two bases-loaded walks plated two more runs in the fifth and Lysette drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the sixth and another run scored on a wild pitch.
Despite a pitch count of 101, Shirah was on his way to a complete-game shutout in the top of the seventh, but ran into trouble, literally in the end, and that was bad omen for Carey.
“We hated to drop one early, so we knew we had to come out and execute,” said Shirah. “We needed two wins today, so my whole job was to go as deep as I could for us to get a win.”
With one out, Talladega got a pair of runners on with a hit batter and a single. Tornado sophomore Miguel Oropeza blooped a pop foul that Shirah and Logan both raced to catch.
The two collided and while Logan made the catch, Shirah was down and was subsequently removed from the game with a concussion.
Coming in cold, sophomore right-hander Hayden Nored surrendered two hit batters for a run, then a two-run single off the bat of Tornado junior Rafael Diaz before nailing down the win.
Carey seemed to pick up where it left off in the second game of the day.
Junior right-hander Connor Adams pitched around two baserunners in the top of the first inning, and in the bottom of the inning, the Crusaders went back to work at the plate.
Lee drew a one-out walk and went to third on an opposite-field double to left by Lysette. Two runs scored on a single up the middle by Hendon, then Garrity followed with an RBI single.
But the Crusaders left runners at the corners, a sign of things to come.
Adams cruised through the second and third innings, though, and Lysette led off the bottom of the third by smashing a no-doubt home run ball over the rightfield fence on a full count off Tornado freshman right-hander Samuel Guadamuz.
“That whole at-bat, I think I’d seen seven or eight pitches, and it was all away, away, away,” said Lysette. “Then he kept shaking off and shaking off (catcher’s signs), and I heard the catcher move a little bit, saw the fastball in and tried to turn on it.”
From there, however, it was all Talladega. The fourth inning was the turning point, as the Tornadoes scored four runs to tie the game on three hits and two Carey errors.
Adams was in trouble right from the start of the inning as Oropeza led off with a towering double to the fence in left-centerfield. Junior Jose Santiago hit a slow roller into left to move Oropeza to third, and he scored on a passed ball.
After getting an out, Adams gave up a single to sophomore Jesuette Dominguez and a walk to load the bases, after getting a second out on a groundball to shortstop.
Sophomore Darlin Fernandez, the leadoff batter for Talladega, smacked a slow roller to short that senior Caleb Laird fielded, but his tardy throw to second base for the force skipped into rightfield, two more runs scoring on the play.
It got worse in the fifth, as the Crusaders committed three more errors that led to what proved to be the game-winning runs.
Leading off again, Oropeza reached on an error at shortstop. He stole second and went to third when the throw to the bag went into centerfield.
An errant throw from third put runners on the corners, and the Tornadoes got the runs home with superior baserunning.
The Tornadoes used a squeeze play to get Oropeza home with the go-ahead run. A walk and a steal put runners at the corners again, then Talladega bluffed a double-steal and when the throw went to second, the runner came home to steal an insurance run.
After giving up another walk, Adams’ night was done, and Ratliff came on to get a strikeout for the final out of the inning. Adams (1-1) allowed six runs, but only one earned, four hits, five walks and he had one strikeout.
“Probably the worst defensive inning I’ve ever been associated with,” said Halford. “We should have won the game 4-1.
“We have a force at second to end the inning on a back-end play we don’t make. Next thing you know, we make another error and another error, boom, the game’s over.”
Their momentum gone and their confidence rattled, Carey spent the next five innings trying without success to dent the two-run deficit.
“I thought we started trying to pop the ball out of the ballpark,” Halford said. “I told them, ‘This is a big park, the wind’s blowing in, you’re not getting back in the game by doing that.’ You have to do the little things and we didn’t do that.
“But it’s a learning experience for us and we’ve got a long season to go. We did some good things today. We swung the bats very well for three or four innings, but after that momentum shift, we tried to do too much.”
After the rough start, Guadamuz (1-2) settled in. He pitched around a dropped third strike in the fourth, then left in the bottom of the fifth with runners at the corners and two out.
Freshman Helson Fernandez came out of the bullpen throwing gas, and the Crusaders never did find the range against the lanky right-hander.
He got a three-pitch strikeout to end the fifth, gave up a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth then retired the last 12 batters he faced to earn the save for Talladega, his first of the season.
“When we had runners in scoring position, we were able to get those guys in,” said Stinson, who was 0 for 5 in the nightcap. “Unfortunately, in the second game, we had a lot of chances, but didn’t capitalize on it.”
Ratliff, who came into the weekend with just 6 1/3 innings of work this season, may have earned himself some more mound time by holding the Tornadoes down and giving the Crusaders a chance to come back.
He pitched the last 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, struck out eight and walked three.
“It’s never good to lose a series, but I think this is a good wake-up call for us,” said Lysette. “It is what you make it, so I think a lot can be learned from today.”
WCU will return home on Tuesday to host Southeastern Baptist College at 5 p.m., then hit the road for a pair of SSAC weekend series at Brewton-Parker and Stillman College. Carey is back home March 28 hosting LSU-Alexandria.
Carey Baseball Linescores
Saturday at Milton Wheeler Field
William Carey 11, Talladega 3
Talladega 000 000 3 – 3 7 1
Carey 130 223 x – 11 11 1
TALLADEGA (11-9-1, 2-3 in SSAC): Wander Arias 2 1B; Armando Jackson 2 1B; Jahir Cruz 1B; Jaquan Nieves 1B; Isaac Guzman 1B. LP – Michael Gonzalez (2-1). Also pitching – Winston Garcia; Niklas Weldon; Oliver Cruz.
WILLIAM CAREY (16-5, 1-1 in SSAC): R.J. Stinson HR (2-run), 1B; Patrick Lee 1B; Jake Lycette 3B, 2 1B (3 RBIs); Bailee Hendon 2B; Brady Wilson 1B; Caleb Laird 1B; Billy Garrity 1B; Brady Logan 1B. WP – Andrew Shirah (3-1) 6 Ks. Also pitching – Hayden Nored.
Talladega 6, William Carey 4
Talladega 000 420 000 – 6 6 0
Carey 301 000 000 – 4 5 5
TALLADEGA (12-9-1, 3-3 in SSAC): Wander Arias 1B; Miguel Oropeza 2B, 1B; Jose Santiago 1B; Armando Jackson 1B; Jesuette Dominguez 1B. LP – Michael Gonzalez (2-1). Also pitching – Winston Garcia; Niklas Weldon; Oliver Cruz.
WILLIAM CAREY (16-6, 1-2 in SSAC): Jake Lycette HR (solo), 2B; Bailee Hendon 1B; Brady Wilson 1B; Billy Garrity 1B. LP – Connor Adams (1-1). Also pitching – Preston Ratliff 8 Ks.
