Gray Collegiate baseball defeats East Clarendon, advances to first Lower State championship

First-year Gray Collegiate baseball coach Charles Assey Sr. has been around the high school game for a long time and knows anything is possible when given an opportunity.

After his War Eagles knocked off East Clarendon, 5-1, on Monday in the Class 2A Lower State championship elimination game, he summed up things up very simple for his squad. Gray Collegiate is one day and two wins away from playing in the state championship series.

The War Eagles travel to Oceanside Collegiate on Wednesday, needing to win twice to advance to the state championship series that begins on Saturday. Oceanside Collegiate just needs one win to advance.

“The goal for anybody is to play for a state championship,” Assey said. “We wanted to win a region and we did it, we wanted to win district and go further than any team in school history and we did that. Now here we are playing for the finals of the lower state. It’s an uphill battle but it can be done.”

Gray Collegiate (16-8) is at this stage because of an outstanding pitching performance from junior Wyatt Keisler. The All-State right-hander allowed one run on two hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked four, three of those came in the sixth when the Wolverines scored their lone run and hit a batter.

Keisler was instrumental in two big momentum swings that went in favor of the War Eagles.

East Clarendon had a runner reach third with no outs in the third inning but Keisler got three short fly balls to the outfield to strand him there. An inning later, the Wolverines had the first two runners reach but Keisler induced a 4-6-3 double play. A walk and hit batter loaded the bases and Keisler got a pop up back to the mound to end the threat.

“Any time they get a runner on third with nobody out and you get it out of it, that’s huge, especially if we come back and answer in the bottom half,” Assey Sr. said. “That deflates the other team when that happens.”

“It was big because we got out of those innings and came back and scored some runs after that,” Keisler said. “It sort of changed it from their momentum to our momentum.”

Gray Collegiate took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Matt Willis tripled in the gap in left field to score Guy Epps with the first run. Willis scored on Keisler’s sacrifice fly.

The War Eagles added another run in the fourth when Keisler walked, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Turner Thackston and third on a single by Bryce Sox. A pincher-runner eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Guy Epps and Willis added RBI singles in the fifth to put it out of reach.

Keisler tired in the seventh and walked the bases loaded with no outs but came back to get a strikeout and a sac bunt that scored a run before giving away to Epps, who came in and recorded a strikeout to end it.

“This is a big deal because we didn’t get out of the district last year,” Keisler said. “So, to come back and work hard all year and get to this point means a lot. Hopefully we can finish it off.”

WP: Wyatt Keisler. LP: Kyler Odom. Hitters: GC – Guy Epps 2-2, 2B, RBI; Matt Willis 2-3, 3B, 2 RBI.

This story was originally published May 6, 2019 at 11:53 PM.