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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

SUMITON – The Vincent Yellow Jackets dominated at the plate and on the mound in game one of their Class 2A quarterfinal series against the Sumiton Christian Eagles, but they didn’t have the same luxury in game two.

Faced with an early 2-0 deficit after multiple innings, Vincent waited out its pitches for one that could let them do some damage.

Grayson Gulde gave them that not once, but twice, ripping a sharp grounder for a game-tying single in the third before hitting the go-ahead double in the fifth that put the Jackets in front for good.

As a result, Vincent took down the defending Class 1A state champions with a 13-1 game one win in five innings before a 5-4 victory in game two on Wednesday, April 30 at Sumiton Christian School.

That got the Jackets past one of the toughest tests left in the bracket and the round that tripped them up last year in their quest for a state championship.

“For this team, it’s everything,” Vincent head coach Timothy Junkins said. “We’ve had this one circled on the playoff schedule. We knew they had great pitching. The type of pitching that could really match up with us on the mound. So the fact we came out here, we preached all week, we have to compete at the plate, see pitches, get good pitches to hit, and I really think they did that 100% today, and I couldn’t be any more proud of the way we competed at the plate.”

Casen Fields immediately put the Jackets up in emphatic fashion with a lead-off solo shot in the first for a 1-0 lead.

In the second inning, Vincent got a trio of free baserunners to load up the bags with one out. While a strikeout put them in a hole, Fields singled to left to put another run on the board, and Aiden Gasaway followed it up with a two-run double to double the lead to 4-0.

After a one-two-three inning by Aiden Poe and a lead-off walk in the third, Landon Archer doubled on the first pitch he saw to score Grayson Gulde from first and make it a 5-0 game.

The Jackets then patiently waited for the sixth run, taking advantage of a passed ball to set up a Keller Finn RBI ground out to extend the lead with two outs.

Poe worked around a pair of base runners in the bottom of the third before capitalizing on a one-out rally by his teammates in the top of the fourth. After a Fields single and a Gasaway walk, Poe ripped a laser down the left field pole that managed to stay fair and make the lead 7-0.

A walk then loaded up the bases before a passed ball allowed Gasaway to score.

Archer then got another run home with a sacrifice fly before McElrath made solid contact with the next pitch and found a gap for an RBI single and the 10-0 lead.

Finn got struck by the first pitch he faced to keep the inning alive for Calvin Johnson who capped the rally with an RBI single that made the lead 11-0.

Fields then ended his game the same way it started–with a lead-off solo home run in the fifth for the 12-0 lead. He finished the game 4-for-4 with three RBI and three runs including his two home runs.

Later in the inning when a passed ball bounced back to the pitcher, Gasaway immediately sprinted for home and slid in safe for the 13th run.

The Eagles tagged Poe for their first run in the bottom of the inning off a two-out RBI single, but he secured the final strikeout on an inside pitch to seal the 13-1 run-rule win.

Poe finished the game with seven strikeouts in five innings against one run, three hits and a walk. However, he wasn’t done as he went on to pitch the first three innings of game two, a decision Junkins said was entirely the senior ace’s.

“Aiden Poe went game one, had some pitches, and he pretty much came to me and said, ‘I got game two,'” Junkins said. “And for him to do that, lay it out on the line for his team, that is a testament to the kind of leader he is.”

He and the Jackets fought an uphill battle though as Sumiton Christian scored in the top of the first after a one-out hit by pitch and single. The Eagles then doubled their lead with an RBI double for the 2-0 advantage.

Poe took control with three strikeouts over the course of four hitter in the second and third, and the Jackets recovered from a one-out hit by catching a runner stealing to set up the final out of the inning.

While Vincent couldn’t capitalize off an error and a walk in the bottom of the second, a Fields double and Gasaway single on back-to-back pitches gave the visitors two in scoring position and a great chance to strike.

Poe got a run home off a ground out, and with Gasaway now on third, Gulde tied up the game at 2-2 with an RBI single.

Calvin Johnson then took the mound and picked up where Poe left off, striking out the side in the fourth ahead of another one-two-three inning in the fifth.

Fields and Poe singled in the bottom of the fifth to put two on with one out for the Jackets and set up another big inning.

Gulde ripped a double through the center field gap to score both runners and take a 4-2 lead, Vincent’s first of the game.

Archer then drew a four-pitch walk to keep the rally going, and McElrath made the lead 5-2 with an RBI single on the very next pitch.

Johnson kept the momentum rolling in the top of the sixth with two outs, but a Sumiton Christian double kept it in business. That proved costly when the Eagles followed it up with a high and deep shot to left field for a two-run home run, making it a one-run game.

Johnson bounced back with a strikeout to get out of the inning. He then worked around a lead-off single in the seventh to secure three-straight outs before letting out an emphatic yell and celebrating the 5-4 win with his teammates.

Fields was 2-for-4 with two runs in game two while Gulde finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run.

Johnson got the win with six strikeouts in four innings and gave up two runs off three hits and no walks.

Combined with Poe’s 12 strikeouts across seven innings, that made the Vincent staff a tough one to beat in the doubleheader.

Junkins knew that their rotation would be a strength going into the year even beyond their reigning 2A Pitcher of the Year in Poe, and he said that strength is paying off in the playoffs.

“Since the beginning of the season, where we started throwing program and got started in January, we knew with the pitching we had, if we could throw strikes, play good defense, we’re going to be in every single game, no matter who the opponent is,” Junkins said. “And I feel like we have done that, and we’re going to continue to do that.”

Junkins praised both Poe and Johnson while spotlighting Johnson’s positive attitude that he believes comes from within and powers their entire team.

“For Calvin to come in and just have that confidence about him and that smile on the mound, that’s something we preach to him,” Junkins said. “We love it when he smiles, because that’s usually when he’s at his best.”

Now, the Jackets will await the winner of the Red Bay and Mars Hill Bible series on Thursday, May 1 to determine their matchup and location for next week’s best-of-three semifinal series.

Junkins believes getting past the third round where they stumbled last year gives them a tremendous boost heading into the remainder of the postseason.

“I think it gives us a ton of momentum,” Junkins said of the win. “This is kind of where we ran into a wall last year in the round three, and getting over that and getting into that fourth round, the Final Four, it’s huge momentum wise. It’s big for these guys to get past that, and it’s going to be a big confidence-builder going into next week.”