Banks Hyde took off from third and Seth Harris left first base behind him as Heritage Academy teammate Cole Ketchum skied a high fly ball into right center field.
With two out in the bottom of the second inning of Saturday’s Heritage Academy Invitational opener against Newton County Academy, Hyde and Harris were off on contact as Generals center fielder Jax Porter jogged under the baseball.
But Porter dropped it.
Hyde had long since touched the plate, and Harris soon came around without a throw as Heritage Academy delivered its biggest blow of the day. It was the third run-scoring error of the inning for the Newton County defense, and it gave the Patriots a 5-0 lead to which they held on for a four-inning shutout win over the Generals on Saturday.
“I’ve never met a free run I didn’t like,” Heritage Academy coach Justin Flake said.
On Saturday, all five runs came at no charge for the Patriots, who had just three hits and didn’t have — nor did they need — a single run batted in. Before Ketchum’s fly ball dropped, Noel Fisher scored on an error by second baseman Hayden Wall to break a scoreless tie, Wesley Miller scored on an errant throw from catcher Hayze West in an attempt to catch Miller stealing third, and pinch-runner Mitchell Woodard raced home on a wild pitch.
Woodard was filling on the bases for pitcher Blayze Berry, who had walked with one out. The Mississippi State signee had already thrown two scoreless innings, but he settled in even more after his team’s big inning
“They just scored runs, and it made it easy for me,” Berry said.
In the top of the third, he struck out the side in order, fanning fellow Clarion Ledger Dandy Dozen selection and Ole Miss signee Kemp Alderman on a high fastball for the third out.
“He’s got a lot of power, so I just try to keep the ball away from him,” Berry said.
Alderman pitched all four innings for the Generals, with his pitch count climbing to triple digits after the Patriots loaded the bases in the first inning but didn’t score and followed it up by batting around in their five-run second.
“I think we did pretty well considering how quality of an arm he was,” Flake said. “We saw some good arms against Tupelo High School, and that helped us have a plan ready to put balls in play, shorten up our approach and put the pressure on their defense to make plays behind him, not just sit up there and let him beat us by himself.”
The Patriots’ three hits came on infield singles by Harris and Hyde and a pop-up that found daylight in shallow right field by Davis Fitch, but coupled with five walks and a hit batsman (Berry was plunked to lead off the bottom of the first) the Heritage Academy offense had enough firepower.
So did Berry, who struck out Wall looking and fanned Harbor Reese swinging to pitch around a leadoff infield single in the top of the fourth.
“That’s big time,” Flake said. “That’s what we expect every time he’s out there: to hold them down. We’re good enough offensively to put runs up to match his performance.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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