By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
SUMRALL – Sumrall is taking a one game at a time approach to the Class 4A baseball playoffs.
Still, the Bobcats have to feel good about where they sit after demolishing Newton County 10-0 Tuesday night in five innings in the opening game of the Class 4A third-round series at Larry Knight Field.
Sumrall (26-5) can advance to the South State finals against either Purvis or Stone with a victory on Friday at Decatur. If the Cougars (19-13) can climb off the mat and force a third game, it would be at Sumrall on Saturday.
“As the season has progressed, we’ve gotten better and better,” said Sumrall head coach Andy Davis. “Defense has played well all year; our pitchers, when they throw strikes that makes it easier.
“We try to put pressure on their defense; we took advantage of some walks and had some big hits in some key situations.”
The Bobcats rode yet another sterling performance from eighth-grader Drew Davis, the coach’s son who improved to 13-0 for the season. Davis surrendered just one hit, struck out five and walked one.
“The key is just to go out and throw strikes,” said Davis. “Our defense is really good, so my job is just to throw strikes, make easy contact and they make the plays for me. My fastball was blowing them away and my curveball was making them off-balance.”
Davis said his pitcher executed the game plan perfectly, only throwing 61 pitches in five innings.
“He pitched to contact,” said Davis. “He hasn’t been getting many strikeouts lately, and that’s perfect for me, because it keeps his pitch count down. We could throw more offspeed and try to get more strikeouts, but our defense plays well behind him, so we don’t need to.”
A big key for the young right-hander was getting ahead in the count. Of the 18 batters Davis faced, he got a first-pitch strike on 15.
“Getting a strike on the first pitch is big for me,” said Davis. “When I fill it up, they make weak contact or strike out, so we can go back out and hit.”
The only threat Davis faced from Newton County in the top of the first inning. Sophomore Vance Richardson stroked a one-out single up the middle, then with two out, freshman Hayden Amis walked.
But Davis got a routine flyball to get out the inning. He gave up a base-runner in the second on a two-out throwing error in the infield, then retired the last 10 batters he faced.
By the time he went out for his second inning of work, the Bobcats had put four runs on the board in the bottom of the first, and the Cougars were already on their second pitcher of the night.
Newton County sophomore right-hander Ethan Burton (5-2) never did find the strike zone consistently. Of the nine batters he faced, four walked and another was hit by a pitch.
Senior Barrett Breazeale drew a leadoff walk, took second when senior Walker Long was hit by a pitch with one out and scored on sophomore Leo Odom’s single into leftfield.
“I just wanted to jump on a pitch in the zone, and look for a ball I can hit hard,” said Odom. “We work hard on swinging at balls in the zone, that we can hit hard, and lay off the ones off the plate.”
Another walk loaded the bases, but Burton got a second out on a pop foul behind first base. However, he never got the third.
Two bases-loaded walks produced two runs and senior Hampton Boudoin’s single made it 4-0, bringing Newton County head coach Jordan Smith out to get his pitcher.
“All the scouting reports we got on Newton County was that their pitchers were usually around the plate,” said Andy Davis. “We told our guys to be ready for the fastball, expect the offspeed pitch.
“We fouled off a lot of good two-strike pitches. That’s just a testament to our hitters. We had a good approach at the plate tonight.”
The Bobcats only had five hits, but they took full advantage of nine walks, two hit batters, four wild pitches and three errors.
Sumrall doesn’t have quite the power that some Bobcat teams have had in the past, but this year’s version is relentless at the plate and on the basepaths.
“When we get rallies going, everybody gets a hit,” said Odom. “We build off that, build off each other. We feed off that and run with it.”
Odom was also in the middle of a three-run Sumrall rally in the second. Senior Landon Hollimon drew a walk leading off, and Odom followed with a one-out single to leftfield.
Junior Cade Clinton singled to left, driving in Hollimon, and Odom scored when the ball got away from the Cougar leftfielder. A wild pitch got Clinton to third, and senior Conner Walker made it 7-0 with a single to rightfield.
Sumrall added an unearned run in the third, when a leadoff walk came around to score when the Cougars botched a sacrifice off the bat of Breazeale, resulting in two errors on the play.
The Bobcats added a run in the fourth on an alert baserunning play by sophomore Landon Hawkins, who had drawn a one-out walk. Hawkins was balked to second, took third on a wild pitch and beat a throw from first base to the plate after a dropped third strike.
The end came pretty much the way the rest of the night went for the Bobcats. With one out in the fifth, Hollimon was hit by a pitch, went to second on defensive indifference, went to third on a wild pitch, then scored the walk-off run on yet another wild pitch.
Although things went easy for Sumrall in this one, the Bobcats are all too familiar with an opponent coming back after a big loss.
Two years ago, the Bobcats run-ruled North Pike in the first game of a playoff series, then lost the second game, and they’ve faced similar situations this year.
“We’re turning to our senior leaders, reminding our younger guys that’s what happened,” said Davis. “Earlier in the year, we 10-runned Lawrence County and they came back, took us eight innings. Run-ruled Poplarville; they came back in eight innings.
“So we’ve been battle-tested. Hopefully we’re focused, and we know what’s at hand.”
Prep Baseball Linescore
Class 4A Third Round
Tuesday at Larry Knight Field
Sumrall 10, Newton County 0, 5 innings
Newton Co. 000 00 – 0 1 3
Sumrall 431 11 – 10 5 1
NEWTON COUNTY (19-13): Vance Richardson 1B. LP – Ethan Burton (5-2). Also pitching – Dalton Graham; Cooper Lewis; Landry Tolbird.
SUMRALL (26-5): Leo Odom 2 1B; Cade Clinton 1B; Conner Walker 1B; Hampton Boudoin 1B. WP – Drew Davis (13-0).
