Apparently, there’s no place like home, as the two Boerne ISD baseball teams found out last week.
In the first two meetings on the diamond between the Chargers and Greyhounds, it was the home teams that prevailed in eerily similar games.
Both contests went extra innings, were decided by one run, and in the end, it came down to a wild pitch to determine the winners.
On Tuesday, the Greyhounds prevailed 1-0 in eight innings, and on Saturday, the Chargers evened the series by winning in nine innings, 4-3.
Charger head coach Ben Woodchick said he wasn’t surprised at how the games played out.
“I think if we play each other 10 times, it’s going to look a lot like that every time,” he said. “That was two good ball clubs going at it.”
Either team could have won Saturday’s game at Charger Field, just like in Tuesday’s contest at Greyhound Field. A hit here or there and one team could have been 2-0 last week, while the other would have been 0-2. Instead, they split and finish their series at 1-1.
BHS coach Geoff Curtin said he’s not surprised either at how the games played out but added that they have to put Saturday’s loss behind them and get ready for this week.
“We have to go win the next one, this district is one of the toughest in Texas,” he said. “We have to get over it and get ready for the next one. It’s a meat grinder; we just have to be ready to play next time.”
Champion broke the ice in Saturday’s contest with a couple of bunts. After a Jaedyn Yamaguchi single, followed by an AJ Grizzaffi double, the Chargers had runners at second and third with one out.
Cal Isley laid down a bunt that allowed Yamaguchi’s courtesy runner Mark Thompson to score from third. The next batter, Andrew Harrison, also executed a bunt that brought in Grizzaffi, and the Chargers were up 2-0.
The Greyhounds got on the board in the top of the fourth with a run. With two outs, Dylan Perez walked and then Hudson McNew singled. On a Perez steal of third, the ball got away from the Chargers third baseman on the throw from home and went into the outfield, allowing Perez to score and cut the lead in half at 2-1 before the Chargers could get out of the inning.
It stayed at 2-1 in favor of Champion until the top of the seventh when the Greyhounds pulled ahead with some clutch hitting.
McNew walked and a sac bunt by Ryan Hooper allowed McNew’s courtesy runner, Colton Shaver, to make it safely to second.
Jake Perez singled and moved Shaver to third. That’s when Jackson Grimes, Boerne’s starting pitcher, helped his cause with a sharply hit double that drove in Shaver and Perez and BHS was up 3-2.
Even Woodchick gave Grimes credit for the key hit.
“Grimes had that one hit, and it hurt us,” he said. “That was a clutch hit, that was the hit of the series and the one both coaches were looking for.”
Champion retired the next two batters to end the at bat, but the Greyhounds were leading by a run going into the bottom of the seventh.
Yamaguchi started off the bottom of the inning with a single to left. His courtesy runner, Mark Thompson, moved to second on a sac bunt by Grizzaffi. Thompson stole third and the ball got away from the BHS third baseman on the throw from home, allowing Thompson to tie it up at 3-3 and sent it to extra innings.
After neither team scored in the eighth, it went to the ninth where the Greyhounds had a couple of well-hit balls, but they went right to the Charger centerfielder Cal Isley. “That’s how baseball is,” Curtin said. “A guy hits a Texas leaguer that drops and then we have guys that hit the ball hard but right at people and they were caught.” Grizzaffi walked to start the bottom of the ninth and advanced to second on an Andrew Harrison single. A walk to Sawyer Smith loaded the bases with Grizzaffi at third, Harrison at second and Smith at first.
Garland Whitehead came up to bat but the third pitch his saw went in the dirt and allowed Grizzaffi to score from third and end it and give the Chargers the split.
Grimes went 6 innings for the Hounds and gave up 3 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk and fanned 1, while McNew tossed the final 2.2 innings and yielded 2 hits, 1 run, 4 walks and struck out 2.
Sawyer Smith had the start for the Chargers and scattered 5 hits, gave up 2 earned runs, 2 walks and sat down 4. Owen Kuhl finished it out on the mound and threw the final two frames where he only yielded 1 hit, 1 walk and he struck out 1.
Champion is 15-5 overall and 5-2 in district, while BHS is 14-4 overall and 6-3 in district.
The Chargers play Pieper this week and hosted the Warriors Tuesday and are at Pieper Friday, while the Greyhounds were at Alamo Heights Tuesday and host the Mules Friday.
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