Missed opportunities haunt Gray Collegiate baseball in loss to 2A baseball series opener
Gray Collegiate couldn’t capitalize on several opportunities in the opening game of the Class 2A baseball championship series and now its backs are against the wall.
The War Eagles had two runners thrown out at the plate and left several runners on base in the 1-0 loss to Oceanside Collegiate on Saturday at Midlands Sports Complex. It was Gray’s last game there with the program moving to an on-campus facility next year.
Game two is set for The Shipyard on Tuesday. Game three, if necessary, will be at a neutral site on Saturday.
“Our backs are against the wall and we got to go win one down there,” Assey said. Hopefully, we can play next Saturday. That is the goal right now.”
Gray was in the same position last year after losing at Andrew Jackson in the opener before winning game two at home to force a deciding game.
This was the third meeting of the year between Gray and Oceanside teams in a state championship. Gray’s boys basketball team defeated the Landsharks in March for its fifth championship while Oceanside’s boys soccer team won last weekend against the War Eagles.
Oceanside scored the game’s only run in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly by Briggs Sullivan. From there, it was a pitchers’ duel between Gray’s Brent Stukes and Oceanside’s Andrew Bowers.
Stukes went toe-to-toe with one of the state’s best lineup, which includes six Division I commits or signees. He gave up a run in the first but settled down after that getting out of a couple big jams.
The North Greenville signee allowed one earned run on six hits, striking out eight and not walking a batter in 6 ⅔ innings.
“Brent Stukes has been every bit as what he has been advertised,” Assey said. “He has pitched against some of the top teams in the state. … But we got to put some runs up when he is on the mound.”
The War Eagles had chances to get Stukes some runs starting in the first inning when they had two runners thrown out at the plate in the frame.
“My opinion was that it was a four-run swing,” Assey said. “... Those are kids making mistakes but those are magnified at this time of the year.
Gray had more chances in the final two innings. The War Eagles had bases loaded and one out against reveliver Jake Klein in the sixth inning. But Klein struck out Blake McKoy before falling behind 3-0 to catcher William Eshaak.
But the left-hander threw three straight strikes to end the threat.
“Jake Klein is a magician. I don’t know how he got us out of that sixth inning,” Oceanside coach Richie McCullough said. “... We could have folded up big time in the sixth inning but we got through the jam and it propelled us in the seventh inning,”
The War Eagles had one more shot in the bottom of the seventh as they had runners on first and second with two outs. Oceanside brought in Class 2A Pitcher of Year and Georgia Tech commit Jackson Sobel in and he struck out Landon Turner to end it.
