Published: May 12, 2008 04:15 pm            

Offensive explosion puts Brock past Maypearl

BROCK — Redemption.

Brock Eagles catcher Jordan Godby was hit in the head on the first pitch of his at-bat in the bottom of the fifth inning and after taking some time to collect himself, he took his place at first base. Godby was thrown out at second when the following batter, Bo Bowden, grounded into a fielder’s choice.

Godby walked off the field after being thrown out, but was still visibly frustrated about the way he reached base. In the bottom of the sixth, Godby stepped into the batter’s box again, but this time his team was up 5-3 and had the bases loaded with one out. Godby released all of his frustration from the previous at-bat when he connected with a 2-0 pitch and sent it out over the left field wall for a grand slam. The result was a 9-3 lead for Brock.

“He’s been so good at hitting all year long and he’s just a clutch hitter,” Brock head coach Chad Massey said of Godby. “We know that he’s going to come through when it counts. He got his pitch. He knew the kid was going to have to come at him and he got his pitch and he took care of it.”

The Eagles scored three more times in the inning en route to a 12-3 win in Game 2 of the best-of-three series against the Maypearl Panthers in Brock Friday night.

“It’s real nice [to get this win] after [Thursday] night,” Massey said. “It seemed like it was a real battle of heavyweights. We were like in a Prize fight and we just kept, taking their punch, taking their punch, taking their punch and finally, we were able to strike back last night a little bit, finally.

“We counted them up [Thursday] night and we hit 10 balls on the nose that didn’t fall and we hit a lot of them tonight that didn’t fall and finally, they started falling and they fell over the fence a little bit.”

Through the first five innings, the game was relatively close as Eagles pitchers Tanner Ross and Ty Holman and Panthers pitcher Logan Bell worked through the opposing lineups. Each side surrendered some runs, but the teams were only separated by one run after five innings of play.

The Brock rally began in the bottom of the sixth inning when Zack Patino singled with one out. Holman was hit by a pitch and P.J. Lange singled to load the bases. J.J. Jordan drove in the first run of the inning with a single and the bases remained loaded for Godby with one out. After Godby’s blast to left, Bo Bowden doubled to keep the pressure on Maypearl and later scored, along with pinch runner Coleman Bowden, on an error. Despite his rocky inning, Bell remained on the mound with an 11-3 deficit.

Dillon Dixon doubled to keep the inning going and Cooper Hays singled to put runners at the corners. Patino, batting for the second time in the inning, walked to load the bases again. After a Panthers pitching change, Holman flied to right, but the runners held and the Eagles had two outs. Lange drew an RBI-walk and pushed the lead to 12-3.

The Brock fans were looking for the next run to end the game due to the run-rule, but Jordan grounded to second base for the final out of the inning.

“We always talk about it,” Massey said. “The innings that we can’t put the big one up, if we just get one, then, we’re going to be all right. You get one every inning, you’re going to get seven and in the playoffs seven runs is usually a win, but we also like the big inning, too.

“Whenever we get the chance to put a big inning together, its nice to do that because it takes the pressure off the pitchers.”

Maypearl came to the plate in the top of the seventh with the game out of reach and Holman made quick work of the first two batters, recording a ground ball out and a strikeout on five pitches. Panthers third baseman Shafer McAllister singled on a 1-1 pitch to keep the inning and the game going, but Holman put an end to all of that with his second strikeout of the inning and fourth of the game.

Ross, who started the game on the mound for the Eagles, finished with seven strikeouts and allowed just two runs in three-plus innings of work, en route to the area round win.

“I thought Tanner and Ty, they both came in and were big for us tonight,” Massey said. “Tanner came out in the first inning and was little shaky with the first two batters and we didn’t make a play behind him, then he settled down. Those first-inning nerves are always going to get you a little bit, it’s how you handle that. Then, he came in and just, after the first three hitters, just mowed them down and got three big strikeouts and got us out of that inning. He settled down and did a real good job of throwing the rest of the innings and he got us into the fourth.

“We knew if we could get into the fourth and bring Ty in and finish it up we would be OK. Ty came through big tonight, I mean he was really good tonight.”

Brock was lead at the plate by Godby, who homered, was hit by a pitch and reached on an error in four plate appearances He also finished with four RBIs and two runs scored. Trace Reynolds also hit a home run, which resulted in the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the first inning, and later walked, doubled and reached on an error. Reynolds finished with three RBIs and a run scored.

Maypearl was lead by designated hitter Andy Pipes, who doubled, walked and reached on an error. He also drove in a run and scored a run.

Brock, which won Game 1 Thursday 4-3 in eight innings, advances in the playoffs with the opponent, site and time to be announced.



Game 2

Best-of-three

Brock 12, Maypearl 3

Maypearl 010 101 0 — 3 8 2

Brock 201 018 x — 12 12 3

Bell, Bosch (6) and D. Antwine; Ross, Holman (3) and Godby. W — Ross. L — Bell. HR — (MHS) none; (BHS) Reynolds, Godby. 2B — (MHS) Beam, Pipes; (BHS) Bowden, Reynolds, Dixon, Hays. SB — (MHS) M. Antwine; (BHS) none. CS — (MHS) Yager; (BHS) Hays.

        

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