WINNSBORO- Greats Fall managed to just edge-out Richard Winn in a 11-10 fireworks show. that went into extra
Bryant Carvalho (left) and Tyler Douglas (8) join former Richard Winn baseball coach Billy Keels in honoring former RWA standout Philip Wilkins who passed away on April 19. Wilkins’ number 9 jersey, which had already been retired (after he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers), was presented by Keels. Photo/Martha Ladd
innings, and consisted of late-inning heroics as well as a controversial ending. The game was called in the eight inning on a technicality with Richard Winn trailing by one with a man on third, after a pitch passed the catcher and the Eagles’ batter stepped out of the box, a no-no in high school baseball and was tagged out.
“I hate to see a really good game end like that,” Richard Winn head coach Paul Brigman said. “We showed a lot of heart tonight and came back twice from pretty difficult situations and I feel like we were about to tie the ballgame back up and to have something happen like that to kinda end it was just disappointing.”
The scoring onslaught began early on. Great Falls’ first batter of the game Connor Henson reached on an error, then swiped second before being brought home by a Tydris Tharpe RBI single.
Richard Winn’s bats went down in order in the first two innings, and the Eagles only brought four batters up to the plate in the third. Meanwhile, the Red Devils padded their lead with two more runs in the second frame, via a walk and an RBI grounder.
Down 3-0, the Eagles made their move in the fourth. Brandon Miller sparked the beginning of Richard Winn’s offensive onslaught when he led the inning off with a single and Chris Christianson followed him-up with a base on balls.
The Red Devils got the next two batters to hit shallow fly balls that kept the runners on second and third at bay, but Jimmy McKeown’s big double scored Brandon Miller.Ethan McManus, Richard Winn’s next batter, ripped a single that scored Christianson’s pinch-runner.
Offense kept coming in Great Falls’ half of the fifth. Josh Lewis knocked in Aaron Blackmon from second with a ground-rule double, that stretched their lead to 4-2, but an excellent Richard Winn double play prevented further damage.
Thanks to a couple of singles mixed with three walked batters, including one intentional walk and a wild-pitch the Eagles had a three-run fifth inning. Jimmy McKeown recorded his second RBI of the night in the inning, and Richard Winn took their first lead of the game, 5-4.
The lead was short-lived because the Devils tied it back up in the sixth. Connor Henson also picked up his second RBI when he knocked in Trent Eisenhower.
Nothing was going for was the Richard Winn offense in the sixth, leaving things tied up at 5-5 headed into the final frame. Aaron Blackmon was hit by a pitch and Josh Lewis walked to start the seventh.
Trent Eisenhower knocked both of those runners in with a double, but he was tagged out trying to stretch his double into a triple. Still, Great Falls held a 7-5 lead, and Richard Winn had only three more outs to come back.
It did not look good for Richard Winn to start off the seventh, as they popped out easily for the first two outs, but a Bryant Carvalho single kept the game alive. Then, Jimmy McKeown channeled his late game heroics, and knocked in a double to pick-up his third RBI, but most importantly it brought them a point closer to a tie.
A couple of wild pitches led to McKeown crossing the plate for the game-tying run, and the game headed to an extra inning. Richard Winn walked the first Great Falls batter of extra innings, then allowed a single and then another walk that juiced the bases up.
Koby Roof cashed in when he hit a ball perfectly to the gap for a bases clearing triple, and Roof scored on a fielding error in the same play. One swing of the bat put the Eagles down 11-7, and again they had just three outs to tie it back up.
The bottom of the eight kicked with a routine fly-ball out, but Peyton Gilbert reached base on a one-out single. Brandon Miller walked on the next at bat, and Chris Christianson followed with an RBI-single that scored Gilbert from second.
Zack Taylor grounded out for the Eagles second out, but not before Miller could score from third. Bryant Carvalho picked up another clutch hit with an RBI-single that pulled the Eagles within one, and then stole a couple of bases to get to third.
That left to game resting on the bat of of Jimmy McKeown, who came in with three hits and three RBIS, but he would not get a chance to swing it. The umpire called the third out after a pitch passed the catcher, and McKeown stepped out of the box, which opened him up for a tag and out.
“We’ve been talking all year about how young we are but we really in the last four or five ball games we’ve turned a corner,” Brigman said. “We were just talking, we scored 50 something runs in the last four ball games. Our hitting has came around it’s really just about us trying to find good solid pitching to go along with it right now.”
Richard Winn still remains in a good spot as far as the playoffs concerned, which start on May 1.
RWA: 0-0-0-2-3-0-2-3-10
GFHS: 1-2-0-0-1-1-2-4-11
Hitting: 1B- Peyton Gilbert (3), Brandon Miller, Bryant Carvalho (2), Jimmy McKeown, Ethan McManus (RWA); Connor Henson (2), Koby Roof, Austin Parker, Tydrus Tharpe (2) (GFHS). 2B- Chris Christianson, Jimmy McKeown (2) (RWA); Josh Lewis, Trent Eisenhower (GFHS). 3B- Koby Roof (GFHS).
Pitching: WP- Connor Henson, LP- Ethan McManus
