Southeast Guilford’s timely hitting and a solid start from Chris Scheibly were key as the Falcons surged past the visiting South Caldwell Spartans in the third round of the NCHSAA 4-A baseball playoffs on Tuesday.
The South Caldwell Spartans appeared to have the upper hand early, as they had a runner in scoring position in the top of the first inning, but the Falcons’ Schiebly came through and shut down the rally without giving up a run. Then the momentum shifted toward the Falcons.
Justin Guy led off the game with a base hit and came around to score on a Jarrett Alexander groundout to give the home team a 1-0 lead after 1 inning.
The Falcons seemed to be doing everything right, and South Caldwell couldn’t keep up. Southeast’s offense picked up right where it left off in the first inning as the Falcons added three runs to stretch their lead to 4-0 after the third inning.
South Caldwell’s offense looked to be heating up in the game in the top of the fourth inning when their first two batters reached base for the first time in the game. Pitcher Chris Scheibly had other plans. He struck out the next two Spartans and got the third out of the inning on a groundout, nullifying the Spartan’s rally.
Southeast came to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning on a mission to put the game completely out of South Caldwell’s reach. As they had done all night, the Falcons’ offense had its way with South Caldwell as the team strung together five hits in the inning, adding four more runs. Mission accomplished.
Southeast led 8-0 after four innings and had out-hit the Spartans 11-3, and was ticking on all cylinders, even after the Spartans starter, Trent Black, was knocked out of the game after pitching 3 2/3 innings. There was only one Falcons starter who didn’t get a hit, and he contributed with a sacrifice fly that plated a run.
Ryan Douglas came in to relieve Chris Scheibly , who pitched 4 innings and only gave up 3 hits. Scheibly struck out four and walked two.
The Spartans had one more come-back attempt left in them. They weren’t going down without a fight.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Spartans loaded the bases on a base hit and two walks with only one out. Southeast managed to get out of the jam when Douglas forced a pop-up and a ground out to end the threat.
Southeast’s Jaylen Guy was hit by a pitch and scored their ninth run in the bottom of the sixth on a Jarret Alexander double. Alexander scored the game-winning and walk-off tenth run on a single by Thorn Alley.
The Falcons advance to the fourth round of the playoffs where they will play Lake Norman High School on Friday.
WP: Chris Scheibly
LP: Trent Black
SOUTHEAST LEADERS:
Devin Bartley: 3-4, 2R
Jarret Alexander: 2-3, 3RBI
Thorn Alley: 2-4, GW RBI
Jax Hackett: 2-2, 3B
Chris Scheibly: 4IP, 3H, 4K, BB, HBP