Staying alive: Hartselle rallies to force winner-take-all Game 3
May 9—OXFORD — The Hartselle baseball team lives to play another day.
After Oxford beat the Tigers 10-0 in Wednesday's Game 1 of a Class 6A semifinal series, Hartselle rebounded for a 5-3 victory in Game 2, forcing a winner-take-all showdown Thursday.
"We scrapped and clawed in that second game and that's been the story for our team all year," Hartselle coach Jake Miles said. "We got off to a good start and just found a way to win."
The top-ranked Tigers (31-9) and second-ranked Yellow Jackets (32-11) will finish their series at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Oxford.
"There's a reason it's a series," Miles said. "We've been in this situation before and this team knows how to handle it."
After Oxford's Gavin Griner baffled the Tigers in the opener with a five-inning three-hitter, Hartselle rallied in Game 2.
Cade Miles hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth, turning a 3-2 deficit into a one-run lead and igniting his team and fanbase in the process.
"You could just feel the energy shift in the ballpark," Jake Miles said. "Before that inning our fans got up and started cheering us and that got us going and then that hit completely flipped the game."
Hartselle led 2-0 in the first inning behind an RBI single from Cameron Palahach and a sacrifice fly from Lawson Williams. Oxford responded with two runs in the third and another in the fourth to lead 3-2.
With Cade Miles' homer, Hartselle took the lead for good in the fifth. Peyton Steele capped the three-run inning with an RBI single.
"I think you have to give a lot of credit to our pitching," Cade Miles said. "We did not play good, definitely, and Nick Chumley and Andrew Coleman just went out there and got it done."
Chumley pitched six innings, allowing seven hits and three runs with three strikeouts, while Coleman worked the seventh, striking out the final two batters. JoJo Williamson scored two runs.
In the opener, Oxford scored twice in the first and added five runs in the second.
Griner's three-hitter featured just one walk and one strikeout. After Hartselle's first two hitters of the game reached base, Griner retired 11 straight. He finished with 10 flyball outs.
It was Hartselle's first shutout loss of the year.
"We didn't play well, and they played very well," Jake Miles said. "We had a few breaks not go our way early, and the wheels kind of fell off. We have to do a better job of handling adversity."
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— caleb.suggs@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @CalebSuggs2
