WINNSBORO (March 1, 2017) – The Fairfield Central Preseason Tournament did no favors for the Richard Winn Academy Eagles. First they lost to Great Falls on day one, and Gray Collegiate handed them a 10-1 throttling on day two.
“We’re trying out a bunch of new guys,” Eagles’ head coach Paul Brigman said. “We have three or four guys we brought up from the middle school team last year that are getting their first shot at varsity action. We’re trying to use these pre-season games just to judge how ready they are to play varsity ball.”
Day two started out promising for the Eagles. Brandon Miller, just the second batter of the game, hit his way into a single, then Chris Christianson picked up a double that was very nearly a homer.
Then the momentum came to a halt. Miller and Christianson’s pinch-runners were both tagged out at home, and in the bottom of the first Gray Collegiate picked up two RBIs on a bases loaded double by Spencer Wood.
“It could’ve been a different game if we could’ve got a couple on the board early,” Brigman said. “Those mistakes are the ones our young guys are making. Those were two ninth-graders running the bases in that situation, but I do feel like if we had got something on the board early we may have been able to carry a little momentum.”
Richard Winn stranded two runners in the second, but facing a 3-1 deficit in the third after Christianson knocked in the sole run for the Eagles on the night.
Gray Collegiate all but put the game away after they exploded for a four-run inning in the third. They also picked up four hits and a walk in the inning.
The War Eagles followed that with a three-run fourth inning that included a Jay Beebe RBI-triple. Beebe went on to score on a wild pitch.
Bryce Fields, Gray Collegiate’s third pitcher of the night, came in to close things down in the fifth. Peyton Gilbert began with a lead-off single, and a batter later Christianson took a rough pitch in the elbow, but it did put Gilbert in scoring position.
Fields then put out the flames of any kind of rally. He sealed up Gray Collegiate’s victory with a four-pitch strikeout.
RWA: 0-0-1-0-0 – 1
GC: 2-1-4-3-X – 10
Pitching: GC – Carsin Crumpton (W), 2IP, 3H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 1HB, 1K. Spencer Wood, 2IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K. Bryce Fields, 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 1HB, 1K. RWA – Peyton Gilbert (L), 2.2IP, 5H, 7R, 5ER, 1BB, 2HB, 5K. Hudson Wade, 1.1IP, 3H, 3R, 2ER, 3BB, 2WP, 2K.
Hitting: 1B – Brandon Miller (2), Peyton Gilbert (2), Zack Taylor (2) (RWA); Hunter Eargle, Jay Beebe, Bryce Fields, Drake Meredith, Carsin Crumpton, (GC). 2B – Chris Christianson (RWA); Sean Buwilk, Spencer Wood (GC). 3B – Jay Beebe.
LOB: RWA-4, GC-4.