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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

PINSON – The Evangel Christian Lightning are firmly in the driver’s seat of the Alabama Christian Schools Conference after finishing conference play a perfect 10-0.

Evangel defeated the East Central HomeSchool Patriots 6-0 in five innings on Monday, April 21 to win its third conference game in four days.

As a result, the Lightning finished the regular season 28-3 and will now host the ACSC tournament at the Evangel Sports Complex on May 2 and 3.

Evangel entered the game with a great deal of momentum, recovering from a doubleheader loss to the AISA’s Lakeside School on Tuesday, April 15 with a 13-2 win over the Southern Christian Patriots on Friday, April 18 and a 5-0 win over the Wiregrass Kings on Saturday, April 19.

The Lightning got off to a hot start in the top of the first as Zachary Grossman came up with a big piece of two-out hitting. He secured a solo home run to put his team up 1-0.

After Will Welch got around a pair of baserunners on the mound in the bottom of the first, KC Gables got the offense going in the top of the second with a lead-off single. He would then steal second ahead of a pair of strikeouts and reach third off a passed ball.

Welch got him home thanks to an RBI single off a 1-1 pitch, providing his own run support by increasing the lead to 2-0. A walk then kept the inning alive long enough for Welch to steal home and make it a 3-0 ball game after two innings of play.

The third inning came and went without a run from either team, but Welch provided a big highlight with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning following a one-out hit batter.

A walk and an error put the Lightning in business in the top of the fourth. With two on and one out, Welch sacrificed himself with a bunt that got Hudson Walker to score for the 4-0 lead.

Welch then worked another one-two-three inning in the bottom of the fourth to preserve the shutout.

Trey Hope got the fifth inning going with an RBI single before Raley Curtis put two runners in scoring position with a double. Grossman scored both runners with a bases-clearing RBI double, and that along with a one-two-three bottom of the fifth put the finishing touches on the 6-0 win.

Grossman led the offense with a 2-for-3 day with three RBI and a run off a solo home run and a two RBI double while Welch earned two RBI and a run in a 1-for-1 showing.

Welch pitched a complete game shutout with eight strikeouts in five innings against just one hit and one walk.