Southern Alamance one-hits Southeast in Metro-4A Championship, Wins 3-0 – Wyatt Smith Reporting

Southern Alamance one-hits Southeast in Metro-4A Championship, Wins 3-0

The Southern Alamance Patriots faced the Southeast Guilford Falcons for the Metro-4A Conference Championship at Coach Kevin Callahan Field on the campus of Southeast High School on Saturday night and dominated the game.

Southeast Guilford coach Dave Beasley started Chris Schiebly on the mound, his first game back after a long stint on the disabled list, and gave him a twenty-pitch limit. Schiebly threw all but one pitch of his limit in the first inning. The Southern Alamance Patriots garnered three hits and one run, coming on an RBI sacrifice fly from Ryan Ellington. The Patriots had jumped out to an early lead, and that lead would hold fast for the remainder of the game.

The starting pitcher for the Patriots was Brayden King, who was also on a pitch limit—40—but due to short at-bats and perfect defense behind him, he pitched four complete innings and got the win. King gave up one hit, struck out two Falcons and walked none in those four innings. King was relieved by Tyler Ceparano who pitched three shutout, no-hit innings.

The only hit for the Falcons came from Forrest Brothers, a screaming line drive up the middle. Brothers also made two dynamic catches in right field, one, a critical leaping snag that ended the bottom of the fourth inning when the Patriots were threatening with two men in scoring position.

The Patriots scored their final two runs in the top of the seventh inning against right-hander Thorn Alley when Brayden King led off the inning with a liner into the right centerfield gap that he stretched to a triple, followed by a double from Chayce Aldridge that drove in King. Aldridge later scored on a pop-up to third base that was dropped by the Falcons.

Aldridge went 2-4 on the night with a double, RBI, and run scored. He studied the pitching and used his instincts to get his hits.

“My first at bat, I noticed he was throwing first-pitch curveballs and so I just sat on it,” Aldridge said. “In my second at bat he got behind in the count and I was looking for a fastball and just turned on it.”

Patriots coach Jason Smith said that seniors, like Aldridge, have been the glue that held his team together this season.

“The seniors are the heartbeat,” the coach said of his elder players. “The five seniors … have been amazing all year. We’re in a great place right now.

“To come over here and win two games on their field, not many teams can say that, and to hold that well-hitting team to one hit, I wouldn’t have believed that if you had told me,” Smith added.

Coach Beasley said that this loss wouldn’t affect his team’s seed in the playoffs, but is a little worried about the lack of offense from his team.

“We were getting behind on the first pitch and I don’t think they ever adjusted like we wanted them to and we kept hitting pop-ups and fly outs,” Southeast’s coach said postgame. “You hope as a coach that it was just an off night. We have to sell (the team) on the fact that if you win game one in the playoffs you build momentum, and you’re ready to go. If we have another off night, we’re done.”

Both teams will wait to hear who their opponent will be, to be decided on Monday. The NCHSAA Baseball Playoffs begin on Tuesday. The Falcons and Patriots will both play home games, being on the higher side of the seeding.

 

 

SA       1 0 0 0 0 0 2 – 3

SEG    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0

 

WP: Brayden King- 4IP, 1H, 2K, 0BB

LP: Chris Schiebly- 1IP, 3H, 1ER, 0K, 0BB

SV: Tyler Ceparano

 

SA Offensive Leaders:

Brayden King: 2-4 3B, R

Chayce Aldridge: 2-4 2B, RBI, R

 

SEG Offensive Leader:

Forrest Brothers: 1-2 SB