BY WILL NATIONS
Special to The Dispatch
BELZONI — Hebron Christian’s Payton Griffin might have a sore pitching shoulder, but the senior did not show any ill effect from the ding. He gritted his teeth and hurled the ball over the plate — time and time again — as he kept bats consistently quiet. He became just too much for the Humphreys Rebels as the game progressed on Tuesday evening.
Griffin’s performance — along with offensive gems from Landon Hill and Channing Tapley — helped Hebron defeat Humphreys 17-3 in the opening game of the Mississippi Association of Indpendent Schools’ Class A state championship series.
Hebron Christian can win the state title on its home field at 3 p.m. Thursday. A second (and potential third) game in the best-of-three series will be played at that time.
Griffin, an East Central Community College Baseball signee, tossed six frames, fanning 12 and walking four (two hit batters), in, possibly, his final high-school game on the mound. The right-hander scattered two hits and allowed three runs (two earned) on 111 pitches against 25 Rebel batters. Griffin made sure his team escaped several dangerous situations throughout to maintain Hebron’s lead, executing a blazing fastball and curveball combination.
“I was asked to do my best and shut them down,” Payton Griffin said. “I don’t want to blame my shoulder, but it was not its best tonight. I still throw strikes, and I was able to come back in many counts. I slowed myself down, and I made sure I filled up the strike zone.”
Hill and Tapley, both seniors for the Eagles, had near perfect nights in the batter’s box. The duo, which was a strong connection on the football field in past seasons as wide receiver and quarterback, paced their team with big numbers on the diamond. Hill scattered four hits and collected four RBIs on five at-bats. Tapley connected on four hits for four RBIs and reached first as a hit batter in his first plate appearance of five. The seniors scored six combined runs.
“I think (Humphreys) knows we can come out and hit. We are going to be an aggressive ball club,” said Tapley, who signed with Mississippi Delta Community College in January. “We got with it in the late innings. We had the mindset that we were going to be solid all the way through from one to nine.”
Michael McGee, who started on the mound for Humphreys, closed Hebron’s advantage in the third. He blasted a two-run, two-out shot over the left-field fence. The game would never be closer than that situation.
The very next frame, Hebron exploded for seven runs on four hits. Tapley slapped a single, scoring the first two runs in the rally. Elijah Parrish, an eighth-grader, plated a run with an RBI single with one out. An out later, Dash Turman — a seventh-grader — coaxed an RBI walk, and Thomas Gable repeated the process in the next Eagle plate appearance. Hill bookended the frame with a two-run double, helping the Eagles lead 11-3.
“The fourth inning is the type of response you expect from your team when the chips get put down,” Hebron coach Todd Griffin said. “We had young men throughout the lineup who stepped up and gave us the cushion we needed to relax and play our style of baseball. Whether it was the one-hole guy or the nine-hole guy, it was time for them to step up, and they delivered in the clutch to pull away.”
The Eagles added another run in the sixth and expanded the lead to the final advantage during the seventh. Tapley paced the last offensive frame with his three-RBI single with two outs before getting out in a run-down. Clay Faulkner tossed the final scoreless frame, striking out two and coaxing a pop out.
Hebron opened the game with a bang. The Eagles’ first four batters reached safely and plated three runs. Hill brought home Faulkner who reached on a lead-off walk, and Griffin scored Hill and Tapley on his single. The visitors pushed its run-advantage to three when J.T. Weaver forced a throwing error that scored Tapley, who doubled in the second, to 4-1.
“This game makes me excited to return home. I want another ring. We have worked hard all season, and I think we are in position to get it,” Tapley said.
Now the Eagles’ attention turns to closing out the series for the school’s first-ever, Mississippi Association of Independent Schools baseball title. The school won its first two titles in girls and boys basketball in February. The championship experience has the Hebron seniors ready to get another ring on their fingers.
“We want to leave a legacy at Hebron,” Payton Griffin said. “In postseason action, people see us as ‘a nobody.’ ‘Who’s Hebron?’ We want to leave a mark.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.