While pitching in high school, Southwest Mississippi Community College freshman Trey Setzer figured out no one is invincible.
On Wednesday night, the southpaw came pretty close to being just that.
Setzer threw a complete-game two-hitter and the Bears beat Copiah-Lincoln 1-0 in Game 2 of Wednesday’s Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges Southern Division doubleheader.
Setzer’s work also helped the Bears split the second round of the Coca-Cola Baseball Challenge and hang on to the series trophy they won last season.
Copiah-Lincoln forced the Bears into a must-win situation for possession of the Challenge trophy with a suspenseful 11-10, eight-inning victory in Wednesday’s opener. The teams split the first two games of the Challenge on March 19 at Copiah-Lincoln.
Southwest (19-15, 6-10 in MACJC Southern Division) gained possession of the trophy by sweeping all four Challenge games last season.
This time, however, winning the Challenge was more of a chore for the Bears, who dropped Wednesday’s opener despite a late-inning rally.
But Setzer turned the tables on Co-Lin. He struck out the side in the first and third innings en route to a 10-strikeout performance.
“Trey pretty much gives us a great outing every time he goes out there,” SMCC head coach Ken Kuyrkendall said. “For a freshman, he’s got a lot of people interested in him for 2013.”
The southpaw threw 69 of his 91 pitches for strikes in the victory. He allowed only a second-inning single to Bud Britt and a fourth-inning infield single to Kelby Byrd. He did not walk a batter and hit one.
“Everything was working today,” Setzer said. “My fastball had get-up behind it and my curve ball was hitting the corners. The umpire was giving me two or three inches off the plate. I figured out what he was going to call and adjusted to it.”
Setzer said pitching for Class 6A Jackson Murrah High School quickly taught him about making adjustments and going after hitters.
“I was thrown into the fire pitching against Northwest Rankin,” he said. “I was shaken pretty hard. It made me realize I just had to throw strikes.
“Pitching for a Class 6A high school, we played the top competition in the state,” Setzer added. “I learned the mentality that everyone has a weakness. No one is invincible.”
Southwest’s only run in Game 2 came in the third inning on consecutive singles by Chance Schmidt, Josh Bouldin and German Hays. The Bears managed just six hits in the series finale.
The bats were relatively quiet in the nightcap after a hit parade in the opener.
Co-Lin appeared to have all the momentum after abusing Southwest pitching for 19 hits in its Game 1 victory. The Wolves jumped out to a 9-0 lead and looked in total control. Pitcher Ryan Kennedy retired the first eight Southwest hitters he faced and limited the Bears to just one hit over the first five innings.
The Bears finally broke through against Kennedy in the sixth. After Bouldin reached on an error to lead off the frame, Hays reached when he hit a roller to shortstop Edmund Cheatham, whose throw to second base was late. Kyle Wheeler then legged out a bunt single to load the bases.
Darron McKigney walked to bring home Bouldin, and pinch hitter Philip Ingraffia cleared the bases with a triple into the left-field corner to make it 9-4.
Following walks to Luke Gipson and Johnny McKenzie to load the bases, Ingraffia scored on a wild pitch to pull the Bears to within 9-5. Gipson moved to third and McKenzie to second with nobody out on the wild pitch. But after a Co-Lin pitching change, reliever Tripp Jolly stranded them on a groundout back to the mound, an infield popout and a flyout to deep center field.
The Bears tied the game with a four-run seventh inning.
Hays led off with a single to center and scored on Wheeler’s double to the left-field corner to make it 9-6.
Following another Co-Lin pitching change, pinch runner Jared Fiorito — in for Wheeler — advanced to third when McKigney reached on an error, and scored on Ingraffia’s lined single to right-center field to make it 9-7.
Gipson’s sacrifice bunt moved McKigney and Ingraffia to third and second, respectively. McKigney scored on McKenzie’s infield single to make it 9-8.
Alex Marshall then popped up to Co-Lin reliever Cody Wall, who turned and threw wildly to first base while trying to double off McKenzie. The throwing error allowed Ingraffia to score the tying run and moved McKenzie to third.
The Bears had a chance at winning the game in regulation, but Schmidt’s liner to left field landed just foul. One pitch later, he flew out to right field.
Co-Lin plated two runs in the top of the eighth on a hit batsman, a Southwest throwing error, an infield single, an intentional walk and Bryce Guess’s RBI single to right.
The Bears tried to answer in the home half of the eighth. Bouldin was hit by a pitch to lead off and went to second on a wild pitch. One out later, he went to third on Wheeler’s infield groundout and scored when McKigney roped a single to center to make 11-10.
But the Bears got no closer as Co-Lin closer Tyler Copeland retired Ingraffia on an infield grounder to end the game.
“I’m really proud of the guys for coming back,” Kuyrkendall said. “After a poor beginning, we could have folded our tents and moved on to Game 2.We had our chances to come back.”
