PREP BASEBALL: In Charge -- WCDS sweeps twinbill from Wayne Christian

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 14, 2017 9:59 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Welcome back, Mitch Turnage.

Fully recovered from an early-season injury, the Wayne Country Day senior flexed his muscles at the plate and showed some grit on the mound during a doubleheader sweep against rival Wayne Christian on Thursday.

Turnage swatted the game-clinching, three-run homer in a 4-3 victory in the opener. He tossed three innings and deposited another three-run blast over the wall as the Chargers took the nightcap 16-3.

"It was good to see Mitch back out there," said WCDS head coach Michael Taylor, whose team took command of the Coastal Plains Independent 1-A Conference race at 6-0.

Turnage was glad to return, too.

He injured his right hamstring in the Chargers' season-opening game and saw little playing time during his rehab. His presence proved crucial in a battle of equally-talented teams that played to their respective strengths during the twinbill.

"I was talking to another boy on second base and we were discussing how evenly matched we were, and that makes for a good game," Turnage said. "In summer ball, we've always combined the teams so we know each other. It's always a dog fight to the very end."

The opener proved Turnage's view.

The well-played, edge-of-your-seat contest was knotted at 1-all through 51⁄2 innings. The Chargers' John Strickland drilled a fastball over the "short porch" in right field in the bottom of the second inning, while the Eagles' Ted Suggs provided a two-out RBI single in the top of the third.

Wayne Christian's defense thwarted a fourth-inning rally. WCDS escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth.

Suggs yielded a lead-off single and issued his second walk of the game to Avery Browning. Turnage stepped into the box and hacked away until he saw that one pitch.

"It was a dream pitch, up in the zone right down the middle which is where I like it," Turnage said. "I knew it was gone. First one of the year. I've been waiting for it."

But the Eagles didn't go quietly.

WCDS reliever Amane Godo retired the first two batters he faced in the seventh. Holden Foster connected on a single and moved around the bases as teammates Suggs and Will White each drew a walk.

Jaxon Anderson closed the gap to 4-3 with a laser shot into the power alley. Teammate Jaxon Bauer followed with a blast down the right-field line that was corralled by the Chargers' Caleb Brewer.

Ball game.

"We played a good game. We did a great job pitching (and) we did a great job fielding," said Eagles' head coach Pete Ellis, whose team played error-free defense behind Suggs.

"In this park, you've got to keep the ball down. We got two balls up and they drove them out of here. You can't do much about those bombs, man."

Chargers head coach Michael Taylor described it as a "gutty performance" and said his team did "what we needed to do to (win)" as he closed his clipboard.

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Game 2

Turnage's three-run shot and Case Kermode's grand slam highlighted a nine-hit performance by WCDS in the nightcap on Wayne Christian's diamond. Kermode ended the night 2-for-5 with a career-high seven RBI.

The Eagles led 1-0 before the Chargers plated 10 runs over a two-inning stretch and pushed another six runs across in the top of the seventh.

"We really hit the ball," Taylor said.

Turnage threw three innings and retired four WCS batters on strikeouts. Godo earned his second win of the day in relief -- this time a 3-plus inning, scoreless effort that included seven strikeouts.

Jon Bryan struck out two batters to seal the twinbill sweep.

White (2-for-4) and Tyler Kornegay each had an RBI for Wayne Christian. Foster took the mound loss -- a six-inning stint where he yielded just four earned runs (10 overall) and fanned seven Chargers.

Anderson threw the seventh.