Champion picked a good time to start playing some of its best baseball of the year.
After sweeping Seguin to close out the regular season, the Chargers topped Tivy in a tiebreaker game and then went on to sweep Liberty Hill in the opening round of the playoffs last weekend.
Champion has won five in a row by a combined score of 43-10. They’ve recorded 9 runs in four of those wins and have improved to 25-9-1 overall. They’ll face Brackenridge in the second round in a series that starts Thursday, 6 p.m. Game 2 is Friday at 1 p.m. (because of Brack’s graduation) and a third game, if needed, will be Saturday at 1 p.m. All games will be at Somerset.
Everything seems to be clicking for the Chargers, especially defensively. They turned three double plays in Game 1, in the fourth, sixth and seventh frames.
“We started turning this thing around when our defense got better,” said Chargers coach Ben Woodchick, who picked up his 100th career win.
Game 1
Rowdy Miller improved his pitching record to 11-0 this year and went 6 innings in Thursday’s win over Liberty Hill. Miller gave up 7 hits and 3 runs and threw 4 innings of shutout ball. Aidan Smith entered in the seventh and closed it out.
Woodchick said those three double plays really helped the team.
“We’re playing good defense, especially up the middle. Gage (Goldberg) caught well and Rowdy threw a gem,” he said. “Rowdy battled; he’s giving everything he’s got. It’s his senior year and he’s always had it, but he’s taken that next step.”
Jordan Ballin hit a 2-RBI single in the second to give the Chargers the early lead, and then later with a 4-3 advantage, Champion pinch hitter Grant Kinzel came up with a 2-RBI single to double up the Panthers, 6-3. They added another run in the sixth to make it 7-3.
Woodchick inserted Kinzel as a pinch hitter in the fifth and had a hunch he would come through with a big hit to give the Chargers some breathing room.
“Grant is a talented hitter; he’s had some big moments for us this year. He’s got all the potential in the world and it came out right there,” the coach said. “Their guy was struggling to get the curve ball over. He delivered, a sophomore in a big moment.”
Champion finished with 9 hits in the game and received 2 hits each from Cam Logan and Ethan Harrison. Ballin drove in 2 runs, Evan Kuhl singled and drove in a run, Jared Wingo scored once, Sam Miller singled and scored, Quinn Grable plated a run, Goldberg singled, Kinzel had the 2-RBI single and Andrew Frei crossed home plate twice.
Game 2
Champion closed out the series with a 9-3 win. The game started Friday and concluded on Saturday after a weather delay.
The Chargers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and got a big hit from Sam Miller after he doubled to bring in 2 runs.
Liberty Hill answered with a couple of doubles that scored a pair of runs in the second to make it 3-2, but Champion blew it open in the top of the third with 6 runs. Four singles, another double by Miller, 2 walks, an error and a sac fly helped the Chargers push in the 6 runs for the 9-2 lead. They sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning.
Liberty Hill only scored 1 more run the rest of the way and that was in the fourth to make it 9-3, but that’s as close as they came to catching the Chargers.
Miller hit the 2 doubles, picked up 4 RBI and scored once, Jordan Ballin singled, scored and picked up an RBI, Evan Kuhl singled, scored and drove in 2 runs, Cam Logan singled, took 2 walks and scored 2 runs, Jared Wingo singled, scored and picked up an RBI, Ethan Harrison singled and scored, Gage Goldberg singled and collected an RBI, Nic Cortez singled and scored and Andrew Frei plated a run.
Jacob Schwope earned the win from the mound on 73 pitches and went 4.2 innings. He gave up 4 hits, 2 runs and walked 5. Aidan Smith closed it out and tossed the final 2.1 frames. He yielded a hit, 1 run, 2 walks and struck out 1.
Comment
Comments