The storybook season for the 2011 W.S. Neal baseball team concluded in a bad way Saturday at home in the decisive game three of the first round of the AHSAA state playoffs with UMS-Wright.
After winning game one Friday night 14-6 and then falling in game two 5-3 to earn a split, the Eagles saw the defending class 4A state champion UMS-Wright Bulldogs pound out 14 hits while earning a 13-0 win over the Eagles in six innings to end the Eagles season with a 21-8 record.
While the Bulldogs pounded out 14 hits, W.S. Neal was held to only three hits. Of the three hits, W.S. Neal got one off the first pitch in the first inning. At one point, the Eagles were sat down 11 batters in a row before getting two hits in the final inning.
“It was a tough day today,” W.S. Neal head coach Coy Campbell said. “They swung the bats today and we didn’t. That was bad timing on us for not hitting the ball. They came and did what they had to do after losing the first one. I thought our kids played hard and we never did quit. This was a good year for us. I don’t want to hear that right now and nobody else wants to hear that. We have another year to build on and we just have to move on to the next one.”
The game was tied 0-0 after two innings of play before UMS-Wright plated three in the third to take a 3-0 lead.
With two outs in the third, UMS benefited from a hit batter and two walks to get a single and an error to take the three-run lead.
In the fourth inning, UMS-Wright struck for one run, again with two outs to take a 4-0 lead.
In the fifth, a single and a Bulldog double was followed by a three-run homerun to give UMS a 7-0 lead and they would add one more in the inning to lead 8-0 after five innings of play.
In the sixth, UMS got two doubles, a single and three walks to score five runs to take a 13-0 lead and hold W.S. Neal in the bottom of the inning to get the win and advance to round two against Saraland.
UMS left five runners on base while No. 4-ranked W.S. Neal left two and had only four runners reach base all game.
UMS got 14 hits, five walks, two hit batters and had only one batter strikeout in the win.
For W.S. Neal, Hunter Mullins was 1-for-3 for a single in the first inning.
Keith Bradley and Cam Blackman were 1-for-2 with a single each in the sixth inning.
Dylan Godwin took the loss on the mound for the Eagles as he went four innings and allowed eight hits, seven runs, five earned, walked two and hit two and struck out one.
Jeremy Myers went one inning and allowed three hits, and one earned run. Mullins went 2/3 of an inning and allowed three hits, five runs, four earned, and walked three.
Blackman went the final 1/3 of an inning and got a fly out.