Lancers baseball rallies to beat Heritage

How does it feel to rally from behind three times before beating Seminole District rival Heritage on its home field, as Amherst did Friday night?

“Wonderful,” Lancers coach Mike Padgett said. “I’m extremely proud of my guys, the way they turned around and battled the entire night.”

“Earlier this year, we couldn’t make plays at the right time,” added Matt Stinnett, whose bloop hit to center drove in the tying run with two outs in the top of the ninth of a 7-6 victory. “Now, we’re starting to piece it together and win games.”

Amherst (7-8, 4-6 Seminole) moved within a game of Heritage (9-7, 5-5) for the fourth seed in the Seminole standings before closing out the regular season against Staunton River and Brookville this week.

“It’s important to be playing well at the end of the season and that’s what we’re striving to do now,” Padgett said, noting that previously this season, the Lancers had lost games to Rustburg and Brookville after taking leads into the seventh inning. “A couple different plays for us and our season’s a little bit different. But at the same time, our guys are going to battle and play Amherst County baseball.”

On Friday at Heritage, after walking Lancers leadoff batter Jesse Whitt in the top of the seventh with Heritage holding a one-run lead, Pioneers pitcher James Womack rang up his 14th and 15th strikeouts on a night when he threw more than 100 pitches.

He thought he caught Stinnett looking at No. 16 to end the game with Whitt on second, strutting off the mound with a fist pump and a victorious shout. But he didn’t get the call and the Lancers rallied for the dramatic 7-6 Seminole District triumph.

“It looked like a strike to me,” Pioneers coach Paul Johnson said. “When the catcher doesn’t move his mitt, it looks like a strike. That’s the way it goes. We can’t change that.”

Given the reprieve, after watching Whitt move to third on Womack’s fifth wild pitch in two innings, Stinnett tied the game at 6-6 before seventh and eighth batters Kirby Anderson and Caleb Bryant delivered consecutive singles to score Stinnett with the go-ahead run.

“With Caleb, to have a freshman in that situation, for him to step in and know what he was looking for at the plate, he did a good job,” Padgett said.

That forced Johnson to relieve Womack with Trey Stump, who ended the threat by getting Trevor Woodson to pop out to shortstop Allen Seufert, but the damage had been done.

Padgett went to his bullpen and brought in Dakota Stinnett, his top starter, to pitch the seventh after Brett Ashwell relieved Cody Stinnett in the fifth. He survived a two-out scare to record his first save.

Dakota Stinnett gave up back-to-back hits to ninth batter Eric Coleman — who was starting only his second game behind the plate for the Pioneers after breaking his nose on an inside pitch at Amherst — and left-handed leadoff hitter James Carter, whose sixth-inning solo shot off Ashwell into the trees in left lifted Heritage to a 6-5 lead. Both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, setting the table for Trevor Darragh, who was 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored up to that point.

Working quickly, as he usually does, Dakota Stinnett induced Darragh to pop up to Trevor Woodson in center for the final out.

“I ain’t gonna lie, I was a little nervous right there for a second,” Matt Stinnett said of Heritage’s last-gasp threat.

“They’re probably the best-hitting team in the district,” Padgett added of the Pioneers. “They do a great job of swinging the sticks and with Womack on the mound, that makes them extremely tough. I’m extremely proud of my guys coming in and battling from beginning to end.”

Heritage had opportunities to break the game open early, but Seufert lined into a double play with Rondell Hamlett on third in the second and the Pioneers left the bases loaded after scoring two runs in the third to take a 5-2 lead.

“Early on, we just couldn’t get the hit we needed, when we had bases loaded twice that kept us from getting a little breathing room,” Johnson said. “We couldn’t get that hit.”

And Amherst finally did, after striking out 15 times — including five in the fifth inning alone, when two Lancers reached on wild third strikes — with Bryant the unlikeliest of heroes.

“Great rally,” said leadoff batter Chris McDaniel, who reached base three times despite going 1-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. “We stayed behind each other the whole time and that’s what really kept us going.”

He hopes the Lancers can carry the momentum from this win into next week’s Seminole District tournament.

“We’re finally getting things clicking, focusing on the little things, and we’re hoping to surprise everybody come playoff time in the district,” McDaniel said.

Amherst 7, Heritage 6

Amherst 002 012 2 - 7 10 1

Heritage 102 201 0 - 6 11 4

W: Brett Ashwell (3-2). L: James Womack. S: Dakota Stinnett (1). HR: James Carter (H, 6th inn., solo). Records: Amherst 7-8, 4-6; Heritage 9-7, 5-5.

Highlights: H - Womack 2B, 6 2/3 IP, 15 Ks, 3 BBs; Carter 3-4, 3 runs, walk; Trevor Darragh 3-4, 2B, walk, 2 runs, RBI. A - Matt Stinnett 2-3, 2B, 2 runs, walk; Kirby Anderson 3-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Chris McDaniel 1-3, 2B, run, walk; Cody Stinnett 4 IP, 4 Ks, 6 BBs, 4 runs; Ashwell 2 IP, 5 Ks, 2 hits, run, 2 BBs; Dakota Stinnett 2-4, 1 IP, 1 K, 2 hits; Caleb Bryant 1-3, GWRBI.