Two-run leads weren’t kind to the Madison-Ridgeland Academy Patriots in their series against Parklane.
The Patriots took a 2-0 advantage in the early innings of each game, only to see the Pioneers come back to win.
On Thursday, Parklane pulled off two 3-2 victories behind complete games from Shelby Johnson and Blake Brown to sweep the Patriots. The Pioneers won 9-2 in Wednesday’s game on the road.
“The only reason we won was our pitching,” Parklane head coach Ken Jackson said. “We only walked two in both games. We scattered some hits, but they had to earn everything they got.”
In the second game, Parklane struck for two runs in the sixth inning to take the 3-2 lead on an RBI single from Justin Leggett and an RBI double from Josh Smith.
In the top of the seventh, MRA had a chance to tie the game. A leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt put Ty Trammell on second base before a wild pitch pushed him to third with just one out.
On the next pitch, Brown coaxed a grounder back to the mound for the second out before he struck out Colby Gillrey on four pitches to end the game.
The strikeout was his ninth of the night. They came up big as the Patriots had runners on in every inning but the third.
“Our pitchers kept us in the game,” Parklane outfielder Chance Schmidt said. “Without them the outcome would have been different.”
Schmidt homered in both games Thursday. He scored Parklane’s first run on a solo homer on a 2-0 count in the bottom of the second of the nightcap after MRA had scored two in the top of the inning.
He also tied the game in the opener. Josh Armstreet led off the fourth with a solo home run to right centerfield to make it 2-1. Schmidt followed one batter later with a 0-1 shot to left field to knot up the game.
“I’m not known for being a home run hitter,” Schmidt said. “At the beginning of the year I jumped on the first pitch. Now if it isn’t there on the first couple pitches, I wait for a better one.”
The Pioneers scored the winning run one inning later after Kyle Adams reached on a walk and was doubled in by Armstreet.
Johnson picked up the win in the first game, pitching seven innings and striking out seven. He only allowed five hits and four came off the bat of just two Patriots, splitting one hit between the other seven in the lineup.
Thursday was a night when pitching had to come through because the Parklane offense wasn’t as potent as it had been entering the doubleheader.
Three times in the two games the Pioneers left the bases loaded after having the bags packed with only one out. All three times the inning ended on consecutive strikeouts without a runner crossing the plate.
“The good thing is we won two close ballgames,” Jackson said. “We’ve had the luxury of winning blowouts or high-scoring games the past little while and this will help us with the three tough series we have coming up.”
