CHARLESTON, W.Va. – No. 2 St. Albans tallied eight runs in the sixth inning to 10-run No. 3 Washington 16-6 on Friday in the Class AAA baseball state tournament semifinals.
“It didn’t start out like we had planned, but we told the guys to keep chipping away and they did that,” said St. Albans coach Rick Whitman. “They had good at-bats throughout the whole game. They could have hung their heads and they could have quit, but they haven’t done that all year.”
St. Albans (31-9) trailed 6-2 after two innings, but went on to score 14 unanswered runs for the win.
“We were down to losing one game and being out in the sectionals, but came back to win three straight,” Whitman said. “It was the same thing in regionals – we lost the first game and then came back to win two. This group grinds and they don’t like to lose – we were fortunate today with some good late innings and did a good job of adding on.”
The Red Dragons were clutch at the plate throughout the game, scoring 11 runs with two outs.
“We were just grinding and kept trying to have good at-bats,” Whitman said. “I thought (Chayce) Matheny had a really good at-bat when he got down two strikes. He got a single to put us ahead and that opened up the floodgates a little bit. I thought that was probably the at-bat of the game.”
Matheny’s two-RBI single came in the third, capping a five run inning for the Red Dragons, giving them a 7-6 advantage.
Washington (24-7) built its lead with five runs in the second behind a bases-clearing double from Spencer Delawder and a two-RBI double from Cameron Pine.
“I know that my team is really good and we can knuckle them up on offense,” said St. Albans standout Nick Loftis. “We did a really good job at the plate and did what we needed to do. We came in maybe a little bit nervous, but really settled in during the third inning.”
Jake Carr got the start for St. Albans on the mound, but went just two innings, giving up six runs on five hits. Loftis replaced Carr, throwing four innings of one-hit, shutout baseball.
“Jake struggled with his location a little bit and his command,” Whitman said. “But Nick came in and he was lights out – that’s what we had to have. We were in a spot where we couldn’t allow them to get anymore or we were in big trouble. He came in and locked it down for us. Once we got the lead, we did a good job of adding on.”
Carr and Taylor White both finished with three RBIs in the win for St. Albans.
The win sets up an all-MSAC showdown between the Red Dragons and No. 1 Hurricane on Saturday for the Class AAA title.
“They’re really good and we’re going to have to play really good baseball,” Whitman said. “In a one game shot, anything can happen. Our kids deserve to be here – this isn’t a fluke. We have a really good team and you would expect that in a championship game. The team that plays the best will win.”