CHARGER CLASSIC: WCDS falls to Kerr-Vance

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on April 22, 2017 11:26 PM

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jhayes@newsargus.com

Plain language.

That was the communicative route taken by Wayne Country Day varsity baseball coach Michael Taylor on Friday, moments after his outfit dropped an puzzling-in-every-manner, 9-7 decision to Kerr-Vance Academy on day two of the school's annual Charger Classic.

His tone? Stern.

His word economy? Strict.

The message?

Step up or step aside.

"We have to be mentally tough, and that's what I talked to the guys about -- stepping up," Taylor said with a shake of his head.

"I don't necessarily know if some of our guys were willing to take on that challenge today."

And that challenge, which appeared on both sides of the diamond, often involved the play of KVA senior Jabe Montgomery.

The portsider opened matters with a two-out rope to left field in the top half of the first inning, then scored the Spartans' opening run moments later on a Country Day infield gaffe.

Game on.

Montgomery then took the hill, where he riddled the WCDS lineup with a combination of inside velocity and offspeed question marks.

Of his first eight batters, six were retired via the strikeout.

"We wanted to hit the fastball and stay away from the breaking ball," Taylor said of his team's early struggle, "but our swings were so long... we were overextending our arms instead of getting inside the ball."

One Charger who didn't struggle, however, was shortstop Mitch Turnage.

The senior's monumental afternoon -- which totaled four RBI -- began in the first inning, when he took a Montgomery offering on a balloon ride over the fence in right center field, giving the Chargers a 2-1 advantage.

Two frames later, with the score knotted a two apiece, the power-hitter paced a four-run Country Day outburst by connecting again -- this time on a ground rule double -- to give the Chargers a 6-2 lead.

But Montgomery simply refused to go quietly.

The Barton College commit settled after his second duel with Turnage, hurling the remainder of Country Day's lineup into a tailspin of easy-to-handle ground balls before being relieved by freshman Colby Wilkerson in the sixth inning.

By that point, KVA had managed seven more runs -- due in large part to pivotal errors by WCDS -- to all but ice the affair.

"That killed me," Taylor said of his outfit's defensive miscues. "I don't know how many unearned runs they (KVA) came up with today -- we have to play defense."

Montgomery earned his fifth victory of the spring, and also contributed at the plate, going 2-5 with a home run. Matt Overton also figured prominently for the Spartans, finishing the contest 2-4 with a pair of RBI.

In total, KVA rapped out 12 base hits.

As for Country Day, who plays Statesville Christian on Saturday, it remains to be seen if its skipper's directive will translate into greater discipline between the chalk.

Taylor, for one, harbors no doubts whatsoever.

"I've got a resilient group," the coach said, "and I think they'll come out tomorrow and be ready to play... that's the good thing about baseball."

First pitch is 1:30 p.m.