The Champion baseball team was facing Wagner on Friday for the second time in a week and while the Chargers rolled past the Thunderbirds in the first game last Tuesday, 13-0, things got a lot tougher in last Friday’s second meeting.
Champion was up 2-1 until they pulled away for good with three runs in its final two at bats to secure the 5-1 victory.
The Chargers improved to 14-4-1 overall and 2-0 in district. They’ll face Veterans Memorial twice this week and hosted the Patriots Tuesday before visiting them on Friday.
Champion coach Ben Woodchick said he likes playing a team twice in a week as opposed to seeing them once in the first round and then playing them again a few weeks later in the second round.
The main purpose of this type of schedule is to keep a team from facing the same pitcher twice in a season. In other words, if a team has an ace pitcher, then that player’s coach can schedule his ace to throw twice against a certain team. This way, a team may see the ace once, but other pitchers have to throw in the other game, which makes things fairer and reveals a team’s pitching depth.
“I love it, I think that it makes you get into your staff more than just throwing the same kid against the same team,” he said. “I think in high school baseball, there’s already enough of that, I like it better seeing three or four pitchers a week instead of seeing the same one. It works out for us too because we have a bunch of guys that can throw. We’ve got a really good staff and I’m confident with any of them on the mound.”
Woodchick added that it helps a team prepare for a playoff series when they might see a team three times in a week.
“I’m treating it like a series, which is going to happen in the playoffs hopefully,” he said. “I think it’s better for everybody, it’s better for the brand of baseball and I think it helps with that.”
Wagner actually took the lead in Friday’s game after scoring a run in the top of the first to go up 1-0. The Chargers answered in the bottom half of the inning after Jordan Ballin reached on an error and later scored on a Gage Goldberg fielder’s choice and then Quinn Grable tallied a run after he singled earlier in the inning and came in on a Cam Logan fielder’s choice.
It stayed 2-1 until the bottom of the fifth when Champion plated a couple of runs for some breathing room.
Ballin started things off again with a single and then Goldberg singled to move Ballin to third. Ballin later scored on a passed ball and Goldberg made it home on a Logan single for the 4-1 lead.
The Chargers added another run in the sixth after Jared Wingo singled, stole second and third and came home on an Evan Kuhl double.
Woodchick said their speed on the bases helped them score those three runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
“We did some things aggressively, maybe not hits, but moving runners and putting pressure on (Wagner) on the bases,” he said. “I think that was the main deal that got us sparked. We have to hit a little better with our bats than we did today but we did a good job of putting enough pressure on them to create something in the middle innings.”
Wagner never scored after the first inning on Champion starter Jackson Melanson, who went six innings. He gave up 5 hits, fanned 6 and only walked 1 batter on 91 pitches.
Aidan Smith entered in relief in the seventh and retired the side on 21 pitches with three pop ups after hitting the first batter.
The Chargers finished with 7 hits, including doubles from Evan Kuhl and Cam Logan, with Kuhl driving in a run, while Logan also singled and pushed in 2 runs in the game.
Jordan Ballin singled and scored twice, Quinn Grable singled and scored, Gage Goldberg singled, scored and drove in a run, while Jared Wingo singled and scored.
Vs. Alamo Heights
For a time it looked like the Mules were going to claimed a blowout win after they jumped out to a 9-0 lead but Champion clawed back into it, however the rally came up short and the Chargers fell to the Mules in a non-district contest last Wednesday in Boerne, 10-9.
Alamo Heights scored 4 in the first, another in the second, 2 more in the third and 1 in the fourth for the 9-0 lead before Champion could get its offense going.
The Chargers used a walk by Quinn Grable and single by Gage Goldberg. An error and a wild pitch allowed Grable to score and then Goldberg came home on a fielding error. Ethan Harrison, who reached on an error, scored on a ground out and the Mules lead was down to 8-3.
Alamo Heights responded with 2 runs in the top of the sixth to make it 10-3, but the Chargers fired back with 6 runs in the bottom of the sixth to trim the Mules’ advantage to a run at 10-9.
Harrison and Matthew Booth both tripled in the sixth and Cam Logan doubled to help the Chargers in the inning. The Chargers had the tying run at third with two outs but the Mules got out of the inning with the lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Champion put the leadoff batter on, Wyatt Chandler, via a walk, but the Heights defense retired the next three batters in order to end the contest.
The Chargers finished with 8 hits, including triples from Jordan Ballin, Booth and Harrison, while Logan hit a double and a single, pushed in a run and scored once. Booth drove in 2 runs and scored and Harrison picked up 2 RBI and scored 2 runs.
Evan Kuhl drove in a run, Quinn Grable singled, took 2 walks and scored 2 runs, Gage Goldberg singled and scored, while Garland Whitehead singled, scored and drove in a run.
Aidan Smith, Jacob Schwope and Nate Mayo all tossed in the game.
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