By Dalton Middleton
Special to The Dispatch
CALEDONIA — Just three weeks after being cleated and receiving 28 stitches, Caledonia High School senior Spencer Unruh stepped on the mound and delivered a complete game shutout over New Albany.
Unruh’s phenomenal start and the Confederates stout offense led to a 10-0 victory and a first round sweep in the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 4A playoffs.
In his five innings pitched, Unruh allowed five hits, three in the first inning, and struck out five New Albany batters. Head Coach John Wilson said he liked what he saw out of Unruh in his first appearance back and is excited to see what he can do in the second round of the playoffs.
“You have to remember that Spencer hasn’t played in three weeks,” Wilson said. “He got spiked and had 28 stitches in his leg. They just took the stitches out Tuesday. I expected him to struggle a little bit today because he hasn’t played. He wasn’t hitting his spots as well as he normally does, but he is going to throw a few more bullpens this week and he is going to be fine. He has a little rust.”
To start the first inning, Unruh ran into some trouble, but his defense was there to back him up. After New Albany’s Eli Jackson led off the game with a single, Logan Suggs gunned him down at second base on a stolen base attempt.
The next batter, Sam McMillin, doubled to right field. Soon after, Caleb Vance singled to center field and Caledonia sophomore Cade Stacy threw the runner out at home plate and ended the scoring threat for the Bulldogs.
Unruh said he felt comfortable on the mound from the beginning with his defense behind him. After they got him out of the first inning, he said he was confident enough to cruise through the rest of the game.
“It (first inning) was huge.” Unruh said. It definitely helped. It boosted my confidence and helped me go later into the game without having to get a high pitch count early in the game. My curveball was on and I had a lot of help from my defense. I think they turned two or three double plays and that helped a lot.”
On offense, the Confederates struggled for two innings before exploding for 14 hits and nine runs in the span of three innings to run-rule the visiting Bulldogs. Caledonia also won the series opener by shutout when it won 6-0 at New Albany Friday.
To start the scoring, Sawyer Brown singled to right field in the second inning. After he advanced to second base on a wild pitch, he was moved to third on a groundout and scored on a Stacy singled to left field to score him and give the Confederates the 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third inning, Caledonia scored three runs off of an RBI single by Suggs, a sacrifice fly by Unruh, and a RBI single by Brown.
Suggs struck again in the fourth inning and crushed an RBI single to center field that scored Stacy. In the bottom of the fifth, the offense exploded for five runs and mercy-ruled New Albany.
Cade Woods doubled to centerfield and Will Burton walked behind him to put runners at first and second. Beau Bates then singled to score Woods, and Seth Brown came up and singled Burton in to make the score 7-0.
New Albany made a pitching change and brought in Tripp Mills. After a wild pitch advanced both base runners to second and third, Suggs walked to load the bases. Triston Gardner hit a two-RBI single and Unruh walked to load the bases back up. (Sawyer) Brown then stepped up and delivered a walk-off single, his third of the night, to right field and ended the game at 10-0.
Brown said he was not surprised to see his team hit well throughout the entire order and said the bottom of the lineup feeds off the top of the lineup, so when Suggs and company were successful, they became confident in themselves.
“Coach Wilson has been saying all year to go right field against a lefty,” Brown said. “I think usually after the first couple of innings we see about the second time around that is pretty hard to get out first three or four batters out. They are some of the best hitters in the district, and once they start hitting, we just follow along behind them.”
After advancing as a lower seed in the first round of the playoffs, Caledonia will face Pontotoc in the second round. They faced off earlier in the season and the Confederates won 9-8 via a walk-off homerun by Suggs. Coach Wilson said he knows his team can beat Pontotoc again and is looking forward to the experience of the second round.
“I hate that we are playing another team that we played this year but it happens sometimes,” Wilson said. “We just played Pontotoc here and we had a walk off home run in the bottom of the seventh to win the game. We don’t have to win that way, but it would be nice. They are going to be tough. They are playing really well. They are swinging the bat well and are going to be a tough out, but we are too.”
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 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.