Messenger file photo by Chris McCarthy
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
Madison Academy became the latest team in the Class 5A state baseball playoffs left by the wayside in Sardis’ quest for a blue trophy.
A week after outscoring Moody by a 29 to 3 margin, the Lions blasted their way past the Mustangs, 11-1 (five innings) and 5-0, on Thursday, April 23 in Madison.
Sardis (21-11) will face Alexandria in a best-of-three quarterfinal series next week.
The Lions had 15 hits in the two games while limiting Madison Academy to two. Sardis starting pitchers Conner Lowery and Blaze Gerhart combined to allow one earned run and five walks while fanning 19.
In game 1, the score stood at 5-1 in favor of the Lions when the visitors erupted for six runs in the top of the fifth. Russ Wiggs and Derek Tarvin produced RBI singles during the inning, while Gerhart had a run-scoring double.
Lowery’s only miscue was Shane Duke’s solo home run in the bottom of the third. Besides that, Lowery retired 15 out of the 16 batters he faced, striking out six along the way.
At the plate for Sardis, Wiggs went 3-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored; Tarvin went 2-for-3 with three RBI; Landon Carroll went 2-for-3 with a double, three RBI and a run scored; and Kaden Walters went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
The Mustang lineup found just as little success against Gerhart in game 2. In seven innings, he allowed one hit and four walks while fanning 13. He struck out 10 of the first 14 batters he faced, and only two of the six runners he allowed made it past first base.
After being held scoreless over the first four innings, the Lions put across three runs in the bottom of the fifth when Wiggs and Luke Martin had RBI singles and Lowery scored on a wild pitch.
In the next innings, Andrew Fellter came home on a wild pitch and Carson Gillilan scored on Wiggs’ sacrifice fly.
Gillilan went 2-for-2 with two runs scored, while Martin had a hit, an RBI and a run scored.