Crusaders beat SC powerhouse, nail down top seed
May 7—Grace Christian was upset one day, then came back and scored a huge win the next that ensured the Crusaders of home-field advantage throughout the NCISAA 3A state playoffs that begin this week.
Grace ended the regular season Friday night with a visit from the Lancers of Legion Collegiate Academy, a Rock Hill, South Carolina based prep school that follows a similar model to Combine Academy, another team the Crusaders faced off against this season. Grace entered the game as the state's top-ranked NCISAA 3A team, but had taken a loss to No. 8 Cary Academy the previous night, and a second straight loss could have put that position in danger.
The Crusaders took care of business. The Lancers jumped out in front 2-0 in the first inning against Grace ace Camron Seagraves and held it until the sixth, but the Crusaders rallied to tie the game and then walked off with a 3-2 win in the seventh.
Grace (16-7 overall) got the win when senior Isaiah Arevalo led off the final half-inning by pushing a bunt single up the third-base line. Caleb Ellis then laid down another bunt, and while Legion got the out at first, the speedy Avevalo had been running since the pitch and made it all the way into third base with just one out.
That made the rest of the job easy. Matt Murchison jumped on the first pitch he saw and lifted a fly to center field, and Arevalo scored to win the game for the Crusaders.
Seagraves, the former Richmond standout who came to Grace for his senior season, started off slowly. The first three Legion batters he faced went triple-walk-double, and the Lancers (14-9-2) had a 2-0 lead before an out was recorded. But then he hit a groove and struck out three in a row to get out of the inning.
The rest of the night was Seagraves at his best. He went the distance on 107 pitches and no-hit the Lancers after the third batter, striking out 17 along the way. He struck out the side in the first, third, and fourth innings.
The problem for the Crusaders is that they couldn't get on the board. Grace put two on with one out in the first, got the leadoff man on in the second and third only to have them picked off, got Seagraves to second with one out in the fourth, then put the leadoff man on again in the fifth but could not advance him at all.
They finally broke through in the sixth. Murchison and Boaz Harper drew back-to-back walks and Seagraves singled to load the bases. The frustration seemed to continue when the next batter hit into a force at home plate, but then Ethan Bunce hit a groundout that allowed Harper to score. Connor Howard then tied the game with a single.
Seagraves blew the Lancers away on nine pitches in the top of the seventh. The effort put him at 107 pitches and meant he was done for the day, but his teammates finished the game off in the bottom of the inning.
When the playoff brackets were announced on Saturday, Grace was the No. 1-ranked 3A team in MaxPreps by a substantial margin and also had the highest strength of schedule. In the 3A tournament, all rounds, including the state championship series, are held at the higher seed, and the Crusaders are the top overall seed. As such, they have a double-bye in the tournament and will not play until Saturday's quarterfinals. Their most likely opponents would be either eighth-seeded John Paul II Catholic or Wake Christian.
Seagraves and Howard both went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead the Crusaders. Legion used five different pitchers in the game and the first three blanked Grace, but the Crusaders knocked around the two who were designated to close it out.
