By Caleb Garner
Special to The Dispatch
On Saturday night at Trojan Field, New Hope was unable to overcome three errors in the first inning in a 6-2 loss to Germantown High School in game two of a Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 5A playoff series.
The Mavericks (25-7) evened up the series after falling 2-0 to the Trojans (20-12) on Friday night in game one of the series in Madison.
The decisive game three will take place on Monday night at 7 p.m. in Madison, with the winner moving on to face the winner of the Oxford/Lewisburg series in the state semifinals
Germantown rode a complete game effort by starter Connor Carter (6-2) that kept the Trojan bats at bay all game long. Carter also had three hits and scored three runs for the Mavericks in the leadoff spot.
Carter said while his fastball and changeup was effective, the big key was his defense playing behind him.
“My off-speed pitch was big tonight,” Carter said. “My fastball had some movement, but the big thing was my defense playing behind me. They made a lot of big plays and got me out of some jams when I needed it.”
Germantown head coach Brian Hardy said that Carter’s changeup was key to the Mavericks’ success late in the season and into the playoffs.
“Connor is really tough as a left-hander,” Hardy said. “It works to his advantage to be able to throw the changeup that dives away and looks like a fastball. He has been really good for us, especially down the stretch.”
Hardy also noted that Carter’s hitting performance was a response from less-than-satisfactory results in game one of the series.
“He had a bad night (on Friday),” Hardy said. “He probably struck out more in one game than I’ve seen him do in two years in a ballgame. He took that very personal and when he got here, his approach was to quit trying to guess what they are going to do and just take what he gets.”
William Hull also had three hits and scored three runs for Germantown.
Germantown scored first in the first inning on no hits and three New Hope errors. The Mavericks added a pair of runs to their lead in the second inning as Carter doubled to drive in Hull. Carter then scored on a single by Eric Newsom.
Hull scored his second run of the night in the third inning on an RBI single by Matt Corder.
The Mavericks capped off their scoring with a pair of runs in the fifth inning, as Hull scored on a single by Carter. Cade Pinnix then drove in Carter to give Germantown the 6-0 lead.
New Hope scored its only two runs in the fifth inning. Bryce Braddock reached on a leadoff walk and scored on an error. Koby Harcrow also scored on the play.
Harcrow led the Trojans with two hits and a run scored.
“Koby is a pretty good hitter,” Boyd said. “We have guys that I feel like can swing it. He happened to see the ball well and got good swings on it.”
Carson Forrester (5-2) took the loss for New Hope. He pitched 5.0 innings and allowed all six runs on 11 hits while striking out five and walking two batters. Parker Lane finished out the contest for the Trojans and did not allow a hit and struck out a batter.
Despite the loss, Boyd was proud of his team’s effort and noted that taking game one at Germantown was big for the Trojans.
“I am proud of our kids,” Boyd said.
“We fought. We knew that Germantown was going to be really good and I thought it was a big win for us on Friday night at their place.”
n Oak Hill falls: At Canton, Oak Hill Academy saw its season end with a pair of losses in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Class AA playoffs.
Canton Academy won 16-3 and then took an 8-7 walk-off win to clinch the series.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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