OAKWOOD — The West Hall baseball team is chasing more than just wins at this point in the season. The Spartans have their sights set on something that no other team has done in program history.
And, they moved one step closer Tuesday after taking a 5-1, come-from-behind win over Banks County at Spartans Field in the first of a crucial three-game, Region 7-AAA series.
“First, we want to get into the playoffs,” said senior first baseman Brian newman. “But we want that home field advantage in the playoffs. That’s our goal right now.”
No team in Spartans history has played host to a home baseball series. They are chasing Dawson County, which began the day one game ahead of the Spartans (16-8, 10-6 Region 7-AAA) for second place in the standings.
“This was a huge win for us,” West Hall coach Chad Sage said. “We feel like our best chance is try and win out so we’re not trying to figure out how many we need compared to what (Dawson County) needs to lose. All we can do is control what we do.”
West Hall and Banks County (9-14, 6-10) will move the series to Homer on Thursday for a season-ending doubleheader.
Newman helped lead the comeback with three hits, including a double and a triple, and one RBI. He is not surprised that they have gotten hot at the right time, winning eight of their last nine games.
“I feel like we’ve been progressing as the season has gone on,” Newman said. “There is a different vibe right now. We feel like we can win every time out.”
With Newman leading the offense, fellow senior Kyle Reynolds pitched perhaps his best game of the season allowing just one run on four hits while fanning four in a complete-game effort.
“I was trying to keep us in the game,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds was locked in a pitcher’s duel with the Leopards’ Dylan Patrick, who has seven of their nine wins on the season. Reynolds got the Leopards quickly in order in the top of the first while Patrick worked around a Newman single and got Jeffrey Jenkins on a ground out to end the inning.
Banks County struck first in the second inning when Kelan Dalton beat out an infield hit and then scored on a two-out, RBI double from Patrick for a 1-0 lead. That would be all the Leopards would manage against Reynolds.
Reynolds retired 15 of the final 18 Banks County batters, surrendering singles by Zane Millwood in the fourth and Grant Rylee in the seventh and a walk to Easton Staton in the sixth.
Patrick was tough retiring eight straight into the fourth inning. Both pitchers got plenty of help from their defense.
Third baseman Dylan Nix and second baseman Staton both made diving stops for Banks County while second baseman Erik Ayala and first baseman Newman made tremendous over-the-shoulder catches for the Spartans to keep the Leopards lead at 1-0.
The Spartans snapped Patrick’s streak when Newman doubled to deep center with one out in the fourth. Jenkins followed with a walk and Newman moved to third on a fly ball to center by Carter Lott. But Patrick got Merritt Gazaway to flyout to left to get out of the jam.
Reynolds got the Leopards in order for the second time in the fifth and then the West Hall offense finally got to Patrick for good. The Spartans got five straight hits, including a two-run triple by Tanner Ahmad following singles from Cam Shirley and Ayala, and then a RBI single by Josh Anderson scoring Ahmad for a 3-1 lead. Newman then stroked a triple to deep center scoring Anderson and Newman scored on a sacrifice fly by Jenkins for a 5-1 lead.
“It’s always fun to be in a pitcher’s duel,” Reynolds said. “I always had faith that the offense would get something going.”
The win kept the Spartans, who have won eight of their last nine, alive for second place in 7-AAA. The loss for Leopards puts them one loss from playoff elimination.
NOTES: Banks County was coming off its first three-game win streak of the season and had won 5 of its last 6 until Tuesday. ... The Leopards came in averaging a region-low 3.6 runs a game ... The Spartans have outscored the opposition 73-37 (8.1-4.1 rpg) during their current nine-game stretch.
