The Heritage Academy baseball team knew its margin for error was virtually gone after it lost its first two district games to rival Starkville Academy.
“We wanted to win the district championship,” Heritage Academy sophomore third baseman Banks Hyde said. “We knew our backs were against the wall and all we could do was win. We had to win. Winning the district was going to give us a better position for the playoffs. That’s what we wanted most.”
Heritage Academy responded with 10-straight wins to take the district championship and to earn home-field advantage in the quarterfinals of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) playoffs.
Heritage Academy cashed in on that advantage with an 8-3 victory against Bayou Academy on Thursday night at Trip Carson Field to clinch the best-of-three series.
“Our goal was to play for the North State championship, so here we are right where we wanted to be,” said Heritage
Academy first-year coach Justin Flake, whose team won Game 1 11-1 on Tuesday. “This team is close. They are hungry, and they have an incredible work ethic. That togetherness helps them win the close games. Once we started putting everything together on a more consistent basis, we became a very competitive club.”
Heritage Academy (22-8) will face Indianola Academy for the North State championship. That best-of-three series will start Tuesday in Columbus and end Thursday in Indianola.
“Just excited,” Heritage Academy sophomore catcher Seth Harris. “The focus was not on us earlier in the season. We just quietly kept wining games. That has gotten us to this point. This team has some good hitting, good pitching, we make most of the plays, and we all work together great.”
Heritage Academy made it happen in Game 2 thanks in large part to the strong pitching of sophomore Carter Putt, who scattered seven hits and worked around two walks.
“Carter did what our pitchers have done all season,” Flake said. “It is not going to be a dominating performance, but it is going to be effective. Our pitchers are going to challenge hitters and compete. They are also going to go deep in ballgames and keep control of the situation.”
The big blow on offense came in the first inning when Harris cranked a three-run home run to left field.
“Starting strong,” Hyde said. “The coaches were really stressing coming out and having a big first inning. We brought all the momentum back with us by winning the first game of the series. It was important to keep that momentum going.”
Harris said the ball felt great leaving the bat and the ease in which it cleared the fence made the jog around the bases easy to start.
“That was such a great way to start the game,” said Harris, who kept the momentum on his team’s side by also throwing out an attempted base stealer in the second. “They were down after that. When you start a new game, anything can happen, and we didn’t want this to be a long day, so the home run was a great start. Carter pretty much took things from there.”
The Patriots tacked on single runs in the second, third, and fourth and added two more in the sixth. They finished with six extra-base hits from five players.
“The adding on runs was great,” Flake said. “We did that in both games in the series, and that is the sign of a championship team. Just keep plugging away and trying to keep some type of control of the game. Proud of the way we did that.”
Noel Fisher had two doubles from the seven-spot in the Heritage Academy lineup. Blayze Berry, JR Lott, and Hyde also had doubles.
Heritage Academy had 10 hits, including a three-hit night from Hyde in the leadoff sport. Also reaching on an error, Hyde was on base four times, drove in two runs, and scored two runs.
“Our offensive consistency has been one of the major factors for this team,” Flake said.
Now, the challenge is Indianola Academy. The Patriots beat the Colonels twice during the regular season.
“Their main pitcher (Josh Hill) is very good,” Harris said. “We will have to come to the field ready to play.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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