SCISA CLASS 3A BASEBALL: Ben Lippen 5, Northwood 2

Baseball: Falcons have all the right moves in opener

Little goes according to plan as big inning sinks Chargers in series opener

By ROB GANTT - The (Charleston) Post and Courier

NORTH CHARLESTON — Northwood Academy’s Jerry Stoots has coached enough baseball games through the years to understand that, sometimes, it’s just not your team’s night.

Game 1 of the SCISA Class 3A championship series falls into that category.

The Chargers stranded eight men on base, had three runners cut down on the basepaths and suffered through one bad inning during their 5-2 loss to Ben Lippen on Monday night.

Then there’s the diving catches by Falcons outfielders and another apparent base hit that was snagged out of the air by pitcher Kyle Williamson.

“We’ve just got to put this one behind us and go play again (today),” said Stoots, whose team had not lost a home game all year.

Game 2 is at Ben Lippen tonight and the Chargers have their backs against the wall. They’ll need to end the Falcons’ 10-game winning streak to force a decisive game Thursday and keep hope alive in their quest for the school’s first baseball championship since 2000.

The Falcons (24-5) sent 11 men to the plate and scored all their runs in the fifth inning after getting only one hit through the first four innings off Northwood ace Ryan Philpott. He entered the fifth with a 1-0 lead on Chris Cook’s RBI single in the third inning.

After getting the first batter to fly out, Philpott (9-2) surrendered a single to Colby Edwards then walked Mobley Jeter and got behind 3-1 to Joey Carter, the No. 9 hitter in the order, who roped an RBI single to right field to even the score.

After an intentional walk, Blaine Walker mashed a two-run double to right field to make it 3-1.

Philpott walked in another run after a second intentional pass before uncorking a wild pitch that allowed Ben Lippen to score its other run.

“The wheels just fell off,” Stoots said. “The fifth inning was one of those things that just happens. There’s no way to explain it. It just happens.”

Philpott finished with eight strikeouts to reach the 100 mark for the season.

Northwood cut it to 5-2 on Jacob Hill’s RBI double in the sixth and appeared to cut even further into the deficit before Williamson robbed Jacoby Singleton of a base hit and an RBI with some quick glove work on a hot shot up the middle.

“We’re on a roll,” Ben Lippen coach Brent Walsh said. “Our kids don’t panic when they get down. We just waited and waited, and our opportunity came.”

Williamson improved to 7-3 despite scattering 10 hits and the Falcons making four errors behind him. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning and wiggled out of a tight situation in the fourth after the Chargers put two men on with one out.

Brett Bullard and Justin Tretera each had two hits to lead the Chargers.