Shiloh Baseball Struggles on the Road
The Shiloh Christian Academy Knights won a couple of games in the comfort of home over the past two weeks, but have found life on the road rather treacherous, as they dropped five.
First, the Knights hosted Peachtree Academy and were looking for a little revenge from an earlier one run loss.
David Sorrells got the start and needed only three innings to earn the payback win as SCA run-ruled the visitors by a score of 16-1 in three innings. Jonathan Martin, Jacob Young, and Caleb Compton all had big days at the plate as the home team used a 12-run third to put the game away.
The following Thursday, SCA traveled to Conyers for a rematch with Young Americans where SCA had previously won last month and knew it would not be as easy on the Eagles home field.
Sam Mitchell got the start for the Knights, and after driving in two runs himself in the first, he later scored the third run to give SCA a 3-0 lead. The Eagles responded by taking advantage of two Knight errors to cut the lead to 3-2 after one.
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It became a classic pitcher’s duel and chess match from there with the Eagles scoring one in the third on a wild pitch to tie the game before Mitchell drove in Micah Compton in the fourth to once again stake SCA to a one run lead at 4-3. The score remained there until the seventh when Matthew Lawson doubled and scored putting the Knights ahead 5-3.
After two errors on the same play, the Eagle leadoff batter reached third, Mitchell retired the next batter in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, miscommunication between Mitchell and his catcher resulted in a dropped infield pop up to bring the go ahead run to the plate for YACS.
The Eagle batter delivered with a three run walk off home run resulting in the final score, 6-5 with a SCA loss.
April 24, the Knights faced Old Suwanee Christian at home. Jonathan Martin got the start for SCA and ran his record to 2-0 with a 18-3 five inning complete game win, making this the second win over Old Suwanee.
A complete hitting attack paced the offense with Lawson, Sorrells, and Martin leading the way.
Thursday SCA traveled to Gatewood to face the Gators in a doubleheader. Sorrells got the start in game one against a much bigger and more experienced program.
The Knights struck first in the top of the first when Lawson reached on an error and later scored on a wild pitch. Gatewood responded with two of their own in the first and one in the second to take a 3-1 lead.
The Knight offense would go stagnant from there as the Gator pitcher kept them off balance with an array of pitches. A poor defensive performance in the fourth inning led to three more unearned Gatewood runs and the Knights dropped game one by a final of 6-1.
In game 2, the wheels came totally off for the Knights. By agreement of the coaches, the teams were playing their younger, less experienced players and it showed for the Knights who made nine errors in the first inning and walked four batters leading to a 14-0 hole after one.
SCA tried to make a little rally in the third when they plated four behind clutch hits from Lawson and Caleb and Micah Compton, but the shaky defense returned in the bottom of the third to allow the Gators to win a mercy rule victory by a 19-4 score in three innings.
Micah Compton took the hard luck loss in his first pitching appearance of the season and Ady Dahod pitched one shut out inning in relief.
Monday, SCA traveled to Locust Grove to take on Strong Rock Christian School. In game one Sam Mitchell got the start and ran into some unusual control problems. Lawson reached on an error and came around to score a first inning run for the Knights. Mitchell then walked five and hit a batter over the next two innings and that coupled with a couple of Knight errors led to a 3-1 deficit after two.
After a scoreless third, the Patriots added two more runs in the fourth to take a five-one lead. Jonathan Martin and Ady Dahod started the fifth inning off with hits and Justin Wilson plated Martin with a ground out and Matthew Lawson drove in Dahod with a single before Strong Rock snuffed out the Knight rally and earning the 5-3 win.
Game two, saw the Knights struggle in all areas of the game, as the defense continued to put starter David Sorrells in a hole and the SCA offense leaving runners in scoring position. The Knights could not rally back into the game and fell victim to the mercy rule 16-1.
Shiloh is now 9-7 overall and was scheduled to play its final game of the season Tuesday at home against Griffin Christian.
“Overall it was a very successful first year for the baseball program at SCA and the school is looking forward to adding middle school and varsity fast pitch softball for girls this coming fall and expanding the baseball to include a varsity program next spring,” said Ryan Wyatt, SCA athletic coordinator.