For three innings Woodberry Forest and Covenant found themselves in a pure pitchers duel. The last four innings was a knock-down drag out battle where both teams tried to make the most of the defensive miscues made on an awfully cold day. Thanks to a 3-run rally in the sixth where Covenant excelled playing small ball, the Eagles were able to slip past the Tigers, 6-3.
“It was the kind of game where the defense were going to make mistakes just because of the weather, cold hands,” said Covenant coach Jeff Burton. “For us the key was making fewer mistakes than Woodberry. Today we gave away fewer free 90’s than they did and then in the sixth we situationally hit. That was big. The sacrifice bunts, the squeeze plays.”
Tigers ace Mitchell MacLindsay and the Eagles’ Matt Shobe were highly effective for their respective squads through the first three innings with neither pitcher giving up a run during that stretch. While the Eagles were able to put a handful of runners in scoring position, MacLindsay was able to help himself out of the jams as he picked up nine strikeouts over his 4.2 innings of work and surrendered just two hits. Shobe finished with a strong line of three innings pitched with just one walk and no hits to his four strikeouts.
In the top of the fourth Woodberry was able to draw first blood when MacLindsay singled. After a hit batter and a passed ball, a sacrifice from Jack Eades made it 1-0. In the next at-bat, Andrew Harris delivered another sacrifice to make it 2-0.
Over the next two innings Covenant was able to rally to take a 3-2 lead. It started in the bottom of the fourth with a single from Tyler Mahone followed by a stolen base and then a throwing error. That set up a Jake Haney sac fly to put the Eagles on the board. Then in the fifth a walk to Sam Lepage led to a stolen base and a sacrifice bunt. Lepage scored on a passed ball moments later. Will Moore then drew a walk. Mahone then reached base on an error and another passed ball plated Moore to give Covenant its first lead of the game.
Woodberry was able to answer in the top of the sixth when Patrick McDonald singled. After another single from Eades and a throwing error, McDonald was able to score and tie things up.
All game the Eagles waited for their bats to come alive and that’s what happened in the bottom of the sixth.
“Everyday in practice right now what we work on is situational hitting,” Rose said. “I thought we really executed really well at the end.”
The rally began with Rose hitting a leadoff single followed by Trent Miller reaching on an error which plated Rose. Miller then scored on an RBI single from Blake Schaar. After a sacrifice to put Schaar on third base, Luke Burton successfully put down a suicide squeeze to make it 6-3.
“You hang a couple of breaking balls and get behind in the count, then you don’t play proper defense and that’s what you get — a 3-run inning on you,” said Woodberry coach Chris Holmes. “That kind of thing happens. I thought MacLindsay threw great for us and when he’s on top of his game he’s very difficult and our team feeds off of it. I think early in the game it took a while for both teams to warm up. And if you think about, both teams gave the other teams the majority of the runs. That happens at this time of year.”
The 3-run rally was more than enough for reliever Jake Haney to pick up the save as he sat down three of the four batters he faced in the top of the seventh.
“Everyone threw well for us today,” Rose said. “They all hit their locations, you really couldn’t ask for anything more from any of them.”
On the day, the Eagles managed just four hits, with Luke Burton going 1 for 1 with an RBI, a walk and two sacrifices. Rose finished 1 for 2 with a walk. Six different base runners scored for Covenant.
Woodberry’s McDonald had the best day at the plate as he finished 2 for 3 with an RBI. He was the only player on either roster to have multiple hits. The Tigers also had just four base hits.
There were just four total earned runs in the game split evenly between both sides. The Tigers had four errors while the Eagles had three.
