Lafayette drops Game 2 pitchers’ duel
PEARL – Two nights after needing 12 innings to decide a winner, not much separated Lafayette and Vancleave once again on Friday night at Trustmark Park.
Vancleave edged out the Commodores 2-1 to force Game 3 on Saturday at 7 p.m. Bulldogs starter Tyler West and Lafayette starter Tanner Harris both went the distance, but it was West and his 11 strikeouts who came out on top.
“(When) you face a good arm, you’ve got to have a really good approach, and we didn’t tonight,” Lafayette head coach John Walker said. “We didn’t really put together any great at-bats. We had some hits in there, but no real quality, drawn-out at-bats. Credit him for that, he was very, very good.”
The Bulldogs (28-8) came out swinging and led 2-0 before fans could get settled into their seats. Back-to-back singles to lead off the game led to a sacrifice fly for their first run, and a Layton Eder double brought home a second run. Vancleave didn't score for the rest of the night, but with West twirling a gem on the mound, they didn’t need to.
“Not a ton of offense for us tonight, but the manufacturing that we put together in the first was big and enough for the night,” Vancleave head coach Justin Edwards said.
Lafayette (30-8) managed to cut the lead in half on a Foster Crockett RBI single in the second inning, but the Commodores couldn’t muster more than the occasional hit after that. Wells was untouchable for much of the night.
“On the mound, great performance,” West said. “I had the defense behind me and help me through it. We scored first in the first inning, and that was big. I knew, had it in the bag.”
After the second inning, Harris and West posted zeroes on the scoreboard for the rest of the night. But West’s performance was enough to keep Vancleave’s season alive.
“Tyler has just continued to go out and give us quality starts,” Edwards said. “That one right there, he pretty much put us on his back. We gave him some runs early, but after, I thought Harris from Lafayette settled in and was really good against our guys mixing that fastball and breaking ball.”
Extra Bases
Big Inning: Vancleave posted both of its runs in the top of the first inning, and that’s all the Bulldogs needed.
Big Stat: West and Harris combined for 15 strikeouts and only one walk.
Coach Speak: “Tyler West had to kind of (go) – hey, I’m going to take this baseball and I’m going to win this baseball game. And I think that’s what he did.” – Edwards
