Escambia baseball earns run-rule victory over Washington at Blue Wahoos Stadium

Baseball by the bay brought some hectic wind on Monday.

And it was the Escambia baseball team that caught flight in a 10-0 run-rule win in five innings over Booker T. Washington at Blue Wahoos Stadium. The wind was a defining factor in the Gators’ victory, and a highlight-reel play started in the first at-bat.

Booker T.’s J.J. Startzel hit a fly ball in the direction of the second baseman, looking to drop in right-center field. But the wind pushed the ball – forcefully – to shallow right field, and Marcus Days made an incredible diving catch for the first out of the ball game.

From there, Escambia had control.

“We’ve been putting in a lot of hard work, and it paid off,” Escambia head coach Tracey King said. “We executed on a lot of small things. We did a good job with that.”

Sophomore starting pitcher Clayton Sanders made quick work of the Wildcats in the first couple innings. After hitting a batter with a pitch, Escambia’s defense picked up the slack and recorded a double play to get out of the first inning. Then, he stranded a runner in the second inning after striking out the next batter.

All the while, the Gators’ offense was rounding the bases. Escambia opened the bottom of the first inning with two hits – a single to center field from Christian Stone, and then a bunt for a single from Sanders – before Ethan Pardue reached first base on a bunt after the Wildcats committed an error.

All three of those Escambia batters (Reid Shiver pinch ran for Sanders) scored. It was a similar situation in the second frame, with Stone reaching base safely on an error, with an RBI double from Sanders and an infield single from Pardue.

“When they do what we work on, and keep their swing mechanically sound, they’re very hard to get out,” King said of the first  three batters. “We work on that every day at practice.”

As Sanders limited Booker T.’s offense, Escambia got a couple more runs across the plate in the third inning. Needing two runs in the fifth frame to enforce the mercy rule, Jordan Luckie reached first base on an error, stealing second base and then advancing to third on a passed ball.

Stone drew a walk before Sanders had his third hit of the night, ripping a single to right field and knocking Luckie home. Pardue had an RBI infield single off a bunt, and Stone raced home to score Escambia’s 10th run of the game to finish the contest in five innings.

Booker T. (2-10) hosts Pine Forest on Tuesday at 6 p.m., while Escambia (10-3) goes to Navarre on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

"We haven't had a win at Blue Wahoos (Stadium) in a couple years. It's a great win," King said. "It's always a big rivalry game with Washington. ...

“We’ve got to move on to Wednesday,” King continued. “Once we walk out these doors tonight, it’s over with and we turn our focus to Navarre.

A helpful breeze for one, a hurtful gust for the other

Monday brought some strong winds, as shown by the first play of the game where Days caught the fly ball in right field. King knew the wind would have an affect on the game, so he elected to cut live batting practice in half at Blue Wahoos Stadium before the game.

"We focused on hitting fly balls to our outfielders so they could get a grip on the wind," King said.

Luckily, thanks to Sanders, the outfielders didn't have much work to do during the game, outside of fielding a few line drives that resulted in singles for Booker T.

But the extra work still "made a huge difference in how (Escambia) played," Sanders said.

On the other hand, however, Booker T. struggled early with some moving fly balls or pop flies that the wind took control of. A few hits to the outfield curved at the last second, and there was a pop fly to third base in the second inning that initially started in shallow left field, and after three players ran after it, it fell to the ground and Ethan Pardue reached first base safely.

Booker T.'s defense, outside of the wind, had a few miscues that resulted in errors, allowing Escambia to run around the bases and score a few runs. Only four of the Gators' runs were counted as earned runs against the Wildcats, who committed a total of six errors in the game.

Booker T. coach Justin O'Quinn declined an interview after the game.

Clayton controls

Outside of the first inning, Clayton Sanders didn't go an inning without a strikeout. The sophomore had strong control throughout the later portions of the game, allowing just three hits in the game. Four Booker T. batters reached first base safely overall, after J.R. Riley was hit by a pitch in the first frame.

However, Sanders forced the ensuing batter, Drew O'Quinn, to hit a grounder to second baseman Tucker Nix, who started a 4-5-3 double play to get out of the inning. No runner made it past second base the entire game for the Wildcats as Sanders built up the strikeouts.

Escambia's infield only had to make four defensive plays, all of which were groundouts to either third base or short stop. Sanders recorded nine strikeouts – including three-strikeout innings in the third and fourth innings –to essentially silence Booker T. bats.

"This is his fourth real good outing," King said of Sanders. "He got ahead of batters and had good command. As long as he's doing that, he's got enough velocity to get some outs. I'm proud of him."

"It's nice to play at a big level and get that win for my team," Sanders said. "You just have to go out there and throw strikes."

Sanders, as mentioned before, showed some versatility as a two-way player with three hits in the game, including an RBI single in the fifth inning, and two RBIs total.

"I think it’s a bonus to have that versatility, helping out the team the best I can at any moment," Sanders said.

Turning things around

Escambia baseball is off to a similar start compared to last season, when through the first 13 games in 2023, the Gators were 11-2. However, things went astray a couple weeks after as Escambia suffered a 10-game losing streak to end the year.

Escambia still made it to the Region 1-5A tournament, falling to Clay in the quarterfinals. The Gators finished with a 14-13 overall record.

They still have some tough competition coming up, including a pair of games against Pensacola Catholic, with other local road games at West Florida and Pace.

Of the three games the Gators have lost so far, King felt his team had "given a couple of them away." At Davidson (Alabama) in February, Escambia was up 2-0 before the Warriors scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning to hold on for victory.

More recently, Escambia was up 5-0 over West Florida on March 22, before the Jaguars went on a tear for seven runs in the sixth inning to secure victory.

"We've been working hard. ... Tonight, we just wanted to stay on top of them," King said. "The season's going good. The boys have been working hard. It's a big team effort.

"They just put in a lot of work. They're buying in, that's the main thing. We're very big on fundamentals and the small things – and it pays off in tight games."

Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia baseball wins at Blue Wahoos Stadium over Washington