Savannah Christian and Calvary split series; Benedictine and Woodville win region soccer crowns
The Savannah Christian and Calvary Day baseball teams, ranked No. 2 and No. 3 respectively among Class 3A teams in the state by Score Atlanta, met up this week and the series lived up to its billing -- and showed that both squads have the potential to make serious postseason runs.
In the second game Thursday, played at Calvary's home field of Grayson Stadium, Savannah Christian's Ely Brown earned the win with a solid outing on the mound as the Raiders won 5-2. The senior lefty, who has signed to play at Mercer University, struck out nine and walked four over five innings, allowing seven hits and one earned run. Trent Lanier picked up the save with two innings of scoreless relief.
Will Hampton, the Calvary left hander who has committed to Vanderbilt, fanned seven over four innings and took the loss despite giving up just one earned run.
The SCPS offense was led by Jayden White, who went 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs and Blaine Burnsed, who was 1 for 3 with a pair of RBIs. Jack Stahl also had a key RBI single.
The first game on Wednesday, won by visiting Calvary Day 3-2, was a pitcher's duel between Calvary senior Dawson Carll and Savannah Christian's Burnsed. Carll went five innings, giving up five hits and one earned run while striking out eight. Burnsed was up for the challenge as he struck out five in six innings, allowing five hits and one run.
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The game went to extra innings as visiting Calvary scored a pair of runs in the top of the eighth when Will Hampton reached on an error, Caden Arnold singled -- both came in to score on a throwing error after Sam Renshaw laid down a sacrifice bunt.
The Raiders rallied in the bottom of the frame with Tison Graham driving in a run with a sacrifice fly to center to close the deficit to 3-2, but Brian Lowry picked off Blain Burnsed off second base to end the game as the Cavs prevailed 3-2. Calvary junior Caden Arnold was the only player in the game with two hits as the shortstop went 2 for 3 with a run and RBI, while making the final putout on the pickoff play at second.
"In that first game, we left 12 runners on base, but we got a great outing from Blaine. We made some mistakes to give up two runs late and had an opportunity to come back, but we got caught sleeping on that pickoff at second. That was a great call by Coach (Calvary head Coach Phillip) Lee to go for that pickoff play. But I was impressed how we responded tonight. Ely (Brown) pitched a great game and the guys made contact and Jayden (White) and Jack (Stahl) and Blaine (Burnsed) came up with big at-bats when we needed them."
SCPS improved to 13-5 and 7-1 in region play with the win Thursday, while Calvary is also 13-5 and 7-1.
"We always know it's going to be a competitive game when we play Savannah Christian and this was a great series," Lee said. "We were fortunate to make some plays late in that first game, and then we saw the flip side of it tonight as they made all the plays and got some hits in big-time situations. I think we both have talented teams that are equipped to make playoff runs, if we show up on the right day."
Benedictine beat Islands to win region soccer crown
The Benedictine soccer team dominated in a 6-1 victory over visiting Islands Thursday night as the Cadets clinched the Region 3-4A soccer title and a No. 1 seed for the playoffs, set to start on April 14.
Islands beat Benedictine 2-1 in the first meeting at Islands on Feb. 9, but the Sharks couldn't slow down the Cadets in this matchup. BC improved to 10-5 and 7-1 in region play, while the Sharks fell to 13-3 and 7-1. BC won the region crown based on goals allowed.
BC won with a balanced attack. Preston Robinson had two goals and an assist, while Asher Sigmon and Ryan Fabrizio each had a goal and an assist. Mills Hollis and Cohen Wolfe added goals and Hudson Grove had an assists, as keeper Liam McClimans made six saves.
Caleb Swenson scored for Islands as the senior notched his 25th goal of the season.
Benedictine Coach Charles Moore said the Cadets were missing a pair of key players in the first meeting and were adjusting to a new formation.
"I think there were three keys to this win," Moore said. "1. We just wanted it more than they did. 2. We knew what we were doing as a team and 3. We completely outplayed them tonight. Our guys were hungry for this one, we played a lot better than that first match. But Islands is a very good side, and they will bounce back from this."
Woodville-Tompkins boys win region soccer title
The Woodville-Tompkins boys soccer team dominated Bryan County in a 7-0 win on Wednesday that clinched the Region 3A Division I title.
Adrian Trujillo-Herrara had a pair of goals and Luis Lopez netted two goals while assisting on another. Abraham Rivera had four assists and a goal, Allen Nicolas had a goal and an assist and Daniel Ayers added a goal in the win.
Woodville improved to 9-4 and 5-1 in region play with the win and secured a No. 1 seed for the state playoffs, which are set to start on April 12.
Lopez leads the team with 13 goals, Rivera has 10 assists and nine goals and the freshman Trujillo-Herrara has seven goals, according to Maxpreps.com.
Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Christian and Calvary split, and Benedictine soccer wins region
