Baseball results: Thompson comes back twice to defeat Mountain Brook
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, April 11, 2006
There was one word that could be used to describe the Thompson Warriors baseball team on Monday night &8212; resilient.
Thompson fell behind twice in its Class 6A, Area 6 matchup against the Mountain Brook Spartans, only to bounce back both times and eventually edge out a much-needed victory 7-6.
The Warriors found themselves down 4-0 in the bottom of the third inning, but
a double by senior Nick Harris and a triple by Joe Sparacino helped THS tie the game at 4-4 heading into the fifth.
&8220;We battled the whole night,&8221; Thompson head coach Pat Hamrick said. &8220;We had some mistakes on the mound early on, but we were able to recover from those.&8221;
After giving up four hits and two runs in the first three innings, starting pitcher Austin Lucas rebounded for a solid outing before being replaced by Deven Onarheim in the fifth inning.
&8220;Austin has pitched well for us the entire year,&8221; Hamrick said. &8220;He struggled early tonight but I though he regained his composure.&8221;
The Warriors would find themselves behind again, however, this time at 6-4 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. But two RBIs by Sparacino over the next two innings helped give THS the advantage for good.
Sparacino finished 2-for-4 from the plate with three RBIs and one run scored while teammate Nick Harris was 1-of-3 hitting with one RBI and three runs scored.
Onarheim earned the win for Thompson on the mound, finishing with one strikeout, five walks and no runs scored.
Daniel Cox came into the game for the Warriors in the seventh inning and closed out the win for the save.
&8220;Deven and Daniel stepped up for us tonight and pitched well,&8221; Hamrick said. &8220;They showed a lot of toughness out there.&8221;
With the victory, the Warriors stayed in a tie with Oak Mountain and Hoover in Area 6 play. Thompson was scheduled to play Oak Mountain last night for the outright lead in the area. Coverage from that game was unavailable at presstime.
Hoover 9, Pelham 2: The Hoover Bucs held on to their share of first place in Class 6A, Area 6 Monday night with a 9-2 victory over the Pelham Panthers.
The Bucs remained tied as of Monday with Oak Mountain and Thompson with a 7-2 record in the area.
Chelsea 8, Oak Grove 4: The Chelsea Hornets earned an area win over Oak Grove on Monday night, winning 8-4.
Douglas Pate struck out seven batters in the final four innings to seal the win for the Hornets.
Vincent 7, Calera 5: The Vincent Yellow Jackets edged the Calera Eagles on Monday 7-5.
Branden Carden hit a two-run first inning double to spark the Jackets&8217; offensive output as Vincent jumped out to a 7-1 advantage and held on for the win.
Chilton County 6, Shelby County 2: The Shelby County Wildcats dropped an area game to Chilton Countyn on Monday 6-2.
Aaron Howard hit a solo home run for the Wildcats in the game as Shelby County fell to 11-11 overall this season with the loss.
Oak Mountain 11, Spain Park 5: The Oak Mountain Eagles peppered 16 hits against the Spain Park Jaguars on their way to a 11-5 victory.
The Eagles&8217; Bronson McGriff and Henke Patterson led the way for their squad on offense. McGriff finished with three hits and three RBIs while Patterson finished 3-for-4 from the plate with a home run, two doubles and four RBIs.
Russ Harper (5-1) earned the win on the mound for Oak Mountain (17-8), going five and one-third innings while giving up three runs and striking out five batters.
Shelby Academy wins key games: The Shelby Academy Raiders earned two big wins last week, defeating Jefferson Christian on Thursday 12-1 and edging Tuscaloosa Academy on Saturday 4-3.
Jake Ingram was 3-of-5 against JCA with five RBIs and two runs scored. Pitcher Josh Kervin earned the win on the mound, giving up one run and striking out five batters.
Kevin Lackey pitched a stellar game for the Raiders (9-3, 5-0) against Tuscaloosa Academy, striking out 12 batters in a complete game effort.
Coosa Valley 5, Kingwood 1: The Coosa Valley Rebels defeated Kingwood Christian on Saturday 5-1.
Zac Taylor earned the win for the Rebels, pitching a one-hitter and striking out 13 batters.
Andrew Pearce took the loss for Kingwood on the mound, striking out seven batters in five innings of work.
Briarwood drops two to Oxford: The Briarwood Christian Lions dropped two close games to Oxford last Thursday as they fell to 17-16 overall for the season.
BCS lost the first game 6-5 and the second game 3-2.
Grant Luke ws 3-for-5 in the first loss while teammate Jeremy Hall finished the second game 2-of-3 batting.
STATISTIC LEADERS
Batting average
1. Jake Ingram, Shelby Academy – .553;
2. C. Andrews, Chelsea – .539;
3. Colby Green, Shelby Academy – .514;
4. Zac Stansell, Montevallo – .511;
5. Grant Luke, Briarwood – .464;
6. Jeffrey Vincent, Briarwood – .462;
7. B. Stidham, Chelsea – .460;
8. Douglas Pate, Chelsea – .450;
9. S. Graber, Chelsea – .442;
10. Jones, Shelby Academy – .438
Hits
1. Grant Luke, Briarwood – 52;
2. John Maiden, Briarwood – 37;
3. Jeffrey Vincent, Briarwood – 36;
4. Dugan Nelson, Briarwood – 32;
5. Jeremy Hall, Briarwood – 29;
6. Nick Harris, Thompson – 26;
7. Alan Reeves, Thompson – 24;
7. Chris Myles, Thompson – 24;
9. S. Graber, Chelsea – 23;
9. Joe Sparacino, Thompson – 23;
9. Zac Stansell, Montevallo – 23;
9. A.J. Ward, Montevallo – 23;
9. McCCain, Shelby Academy – 23
RBIs
1. Jeremy Hall, Briarwood – 30;
2. Dugan Nelson, Briarwood – 24;
3. Jeffrey Vincent, Briarwood – 23;
3. Matt Vick, Shelby County – 23;
3. Joe Sparacino, Thompson – 23;
3. Jake Ingram, Shelby Academy – 23;
7. Luke Furuto, Briarwood – 22;
8. John Maiden, Briarwood – 21;
9. Zac Stansell, Montevallo – 20;
10. Nick Harris, Thompson – 18;
10. Colby Green, Shelby Academy – 18
Stolen bases
1. Grant Luke, Briarwood – 41;
2. Jeremy Hall, Briarwood – 27;
3. Hunter Wade, Montevallo – 18;
4. A.J. Ward, Montevallo – 17;
5. Douglas Pate, Chelsea – 14;
5. Lance Coggins, Briarwood – 14;
7. Taylor Gaddis, Montevallo – 13;
8. Alan Reeves, Thompson – 12;
8. Luke Furuto, Briarwood – 12;
10. Zac Stansell, Montevallo – 11
ERA
1. B. Stidham, Chelsea – 0.70;
2. Landon Smith, Thompson – 0.84;
3. Austin Lucas, Thompson – 1.28;
4. B. Yance, Chelsea – 1.40;
5. Daniel Cox, Thompson – 1.50;
6. Lackey, Shelby Academy – 1.56;
7. Josh Kervin, Shelby Academy – 2.00;
8. Sharp, Shelby Academy – 2.10;
9. Coty McLaughlin, Chelsea – 2.12;
10. Douglas Pate, Chelsea – 2.13
Strikeouts
1. Austin Lucas, Thompson – 62;
2. Coty McLaughlin, Chelsea – 57;
3. Brian Jeffcoat, Briarwood – 53;
4. B. Stidham, Chelsea – 50;
5. Lackey, Shelby Academy – 49;
6. Jon Ray, Shelby County – 46;
7. Douglas Pate, Chelsea – 38;
8. Daniel Cox, Thompson – 31;
9. Taylor Gaddis, Montevallo – 23;
10. Zac Stansell, Montevallo – 22
No statistics were submitted from Oak Mountain, Spain Park, Pelham, Calera, Vincent, Kingwood, Cornerstone and Coosa Valley. Coaches can submit statistics for publication by e-mail at mailto:sports@shelbycountyreporter.com or by fax at 669-4217. Submissions must be made by Monday at noon to meet deadline for the following Wednesday issue