High School Baseball: Behind Sauls grand slam, Pace takes down Tate for regular season sweep
At the plate in the fourth inning with the bases loaded, two strikes, Pace High’s Tanner Sauls was just hoping to somehow make contact.
“In that situation, you are really just trying to get the barrel (of bat) on the ball and then whatever happens, happens,” he said later. “You are just trying to help your team out right here.”
Well, here’s what happened:
Sauls timed a slider just right and sent it soaring into the clear, night sky for a grand slam that became the difference maker in the Patriots 5-3 victory Friday against Tate in another marquee matchup at Pace between two of the region’s best teams and statewide acclaimed.
Another packed crowd, which had fans situated outside the fence lining both foul lines, watched a two and half hour-plus game full of big moments.
None of course, grander than Sauls’ slammer.
“He is the type of kid who can change the game with one swing,’’ said Pace coach Jason McBride. “He’s got big time power. That is not the first time he has done something like that. That was a good swing. He has been swinging it well all week. I was really glad he was up in that spot.”
The win pushed Pace (17-2) closer to securing the top seed in Region 1-6A for the playoffs. The Patriots, who had a 15-game win streak snapped last Friday at South Walton, are ranked No. 5 in the state in all classifications by MaxPreps. Tate is ranked 10th in Class 6A.
Trailing 1-0 as Tate starter Drew Reaves shined in the first three innings, the Patriots got an opportunity in the fourth inning when the first three batters reached on a walk, single and fielder’s choice play. On the latter, Reaves got hurt, which caused a delay while reliever Colton Swiers could get loose.
His 2-2 pitch to the left-hand batting Sauls was a good one, but Sauls was able make a perfect swing. He also earned the win on the mound after working the first four innings.
“I was thinking fastball. And I really had not come close to touching (fastball pitches) all night,” Sauls said. “He threw me that pitch off the plate and I knew I hit it deep… but I really didn’t know for sure if it was gone or not.”
Swiers then struck out the next three batters and Tate rallied in the top of the fifth by loading the bases, then a hit batter forcing one run home. Cade Kelly followed with a two out single that scored another run, but left fielder Ty Humphreys made a throw to third to get the runner and end the inning.
“That was a such a heads-up play,” McBride said. “Humphreys has good instincts, good awareness on his part not to come up and make a play at the plate. He knew he had a guy at third. I thought it was a good heads up play on his part. He is a senior, a leader of ours.”
The home plate umpire ruled the putout occurred before Tate’s second runner crossed the plate on the single, which kept the Aggies from tying the game.
Pace’s Alex McCranie then led off the fifth inning with a solo homer and that stood as the final margin.
The Patriots Nate Caston pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless relief to get the save.
Here are three other takeaways from the game.
Playoff atmosphere
The Tate-Pace baseball rivalry is special. These are two of Florida’s tradition-rich programs with multiple state titles and players advancing into professional baseball.
“We all grew up playing against each other and (Tate Aggies) are our biggest rivals,” Sauls said.
“Our guys love this game,” said McBride, whose team won at Tate in a 5-2 decision on March 31. “This is the way this game is all the time. Both sides chirping back and forth and the umpire getting mad at everybody. It’s just an intense game, intense rivalry. It is a playoff atmosphere.
“It gets you ready. You kind of wish you could play in this environment every night.”
Character builder
After losing at South Walton 2-0, the Patriots beat next-door neighbor rival Milton 9-0 on Tuesday, then followed with another rivalry win Friday against Tate.
“That South Walton game kind of humbled us right there,” Sauls said. “It didn’t let us get too big and then we came out competing our butts off (Friday) it provided that extra fire for us.”
McBride told his players after Friday’s game that he liked the response to the season’s rare loss. The only other Pace loss was the second game of the season on Feb. 25 against Colquitt County (Ga.) in a tournament.
“I told them it says a lot about you guys,” McBride said. “I love this team. They compete. This has been a fun year. These guys come out every day ready to compete. It has been fun just being around these guys.”
Missed opportunities
Tate had baserunners in six of the seven innings. Twice, Pace made strong throws on sacrifice bunt attempts to get out the lead runner.
In the sixth, the Aggies left the bases loaded after star hitter Bray Touchstone was intentionally walked to load the bases. But Caston struck out the next batter to end the inning.
“Touchstone can change the game as well,” McBride said. “We were scared of him in that situation and I didn’t want to let him beat us.
“I didn’t feel like we played our best, but we kept competing, we kept battling. And Tanner kept making good pitches early on when he was on the mound.
Bill Vilona is a retired Pensacola News Journal sports columnist and now senior writer for Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He can be reached at bvilona@bluewahoos.com.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Baseball: Sauls’ slam powers state-ranked Pace past Tate for a second time
