WCDS drops 8-inning heartbreaker in baseball

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on March 19, 2015 1:48 PM

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The ball launched off the bat of Mitch Turnage toward right field in the bottom of the seventh inning. He flipped his bat toward the dugout and pointed toward the sky in celebration as he jogged around first base.

Less than 30 minutes and nearly a full sunset later, Turnage took the top of that very same bat and pounded it into the dirt in disappointment.

An inning earlier, Turnage's game-tying home run forced extra innings. But in the bottom of the eighth, Turnage swung through a curveball that resulted in a strikeout.

Wayne Country Day lost 8-4 to Oakwood.

"It's tough but there's a lot of positives to take out of this game," Wayne Country Day coach Michael Taylor showed. "I thought we pitched well, we hit the ball pretty well. I thought we played well enough to win, we just did not do the extra stuff."

The way Taylor coached, and the way the Chargers played, percentages indicate they probably should have won the game. But baseball is a game of inches, and the inches weren't on the Chargers side.

Trailing 1-0 in the second inning, Taylor tried to score Patrick Hall from second base on a line drive to center field. Taylor knew Oakwood center-fielder Zarion Sharpe had 70 pitches on Tuesday, and decided to test his arm.

Sharpe responded by flinging a strike directly to the catcher's glove to nail Hall by two steps.

"It's early in the game you have to test his arm and see what he's got left," Taylor said. "Hats off to him, he made a good throw."

Down 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth with runners on first and second, Taylor called for a double steal. Oakwood pitcher Alex Goins was in a rhythm on the mound and Taylor had timed how long he had to call for a stolen-base attempt.

A base hit could put WCDS ahead.

But Oakwood's defense gunned Zach Barfield down at third to end the inning.

"He was one-looking (to second base) and then pitching," Taylor said. "Zach was getting a good secondary (lead), I don't think he got a great jump on that one but that happens. Who knows, earlier this year we called that and the catcher threw it into left field and we scored two.

"Didn't happen that way (today.)"

The final run of tough luck for the Chargers came in the eighth inning.

With the game tied and the bases loaded with one out, Taylor moved the infield in to cut off a run at the plate. Then Oakwood's No. 8 hitter Jackson Carriere hit a ground ball that snuck by Parker Smith to drive in the go-ahead, and ultimately game-winning run.

"We had our infield in, if they're back that's a routine double play and we're out of the inning," Taylor. "It is what it is."

Despite some tough breaks and a worthy opponent, the Chargers showed the mental toughness Taylor has been looking for all season. They trailed four times in the game, and were able to claw back to tie it three times.

They were even in position to win in the bottom of the seventh with Barfield, who was 3-for-3 at the time, at the plate with bases loaded. But Barfield hit a comebacker to the mound and Oakwood escaped, and put the game away with a four-run eighth inning.

Barfield and Bryan led the Chargers from the bottom of the order, combing for five of their 11 hits out of the seven and eight spots. Amane Godo added two hits.

Jacob Magera was sharp in his first start of the season. He lasted 3 1/3 innings and gave up three runs. Godo, Patrick Hall and Turnage helped out in relief.

Hall endured the loss.