Strong pitching, McLain HR lead Oak Hill past Woodrow

May 7—No matter what, Oak Hill had a plan.

Jayden McLain was on a pitch count. He knew it going in, as did the rest of the staff. So no one was surprised when coach Chris Hendrick pulled his senior ace in the bottom of the fifth after his 74th pitch.

And, really, it was all set into motion a year ago.

"We had set goals for this week," Hendrick said. "I could have run Jay to the end and let him go, but I went back and studied films and it's been tight with us (and Woodrow Wilson). That's a good team over there. I watched our game last year in the sections and we came out and just beat the ball and we won 8-4. And I said, 'You know, that's going to happen this year.'"

So he orchestrated a plan. Things didn't go exactly according to that plan, but the end was exactly what Hendrick was going for.

McLain and two relievers limited Woodrow to six hits and No. 3 Oak Hill defeated the No. 2 Flying Eagles 7-1 on the first day of the Class AAA Region 3, Section 2 tournament Tuesday on Thomas Parham Field in Beckley.

The Red Devils (18-12) moved on in the winners bracket and will travel to No. 1 Greenbrier East Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The Spartans defeated No. 4 Princeton 7-1 Tuesday evening.

"The kids felt like they've been disrespected, getting the 3 seed and having the best record in the section (4-1)," Hendrick said. "So they had a little chip on their shoulder. We talked about it and said we can't control that. What we can control is our attitudes and our effort. And I want everybody who buys a ticket to witness that tonight."

They did.

It started with McLain, the senior right-hander who has been here before.

He gave up an unearned run in the first inning and nothing more. All six Woodrow hits came off McLain, but the Flying Eagles stranded four runners in scoring position over his four innings.

McLain (5-2) struck out three and walked two.

Where the plan took a slight detour came in the bottom of the fifth with Oak Hill leading 5-1. No. 9 hitter Luke Barnes led off with an opposite field single to left and Maddex Sims walked. That put McLain at 74 pitches and Hendrick replaced him with shortstop Aiden Smith.

Facing a two-on, nobody-out situation out of the gate, Smith rolled. He got Ty Evans to pop out on the infield and struck out Chase Tolliver and Gage Price to get out of in on just nine pitches.

Other than a stretch of five straight balls in the sixth, Smith cruised in two innings of hitless relief. He struck out three and walked one and did it all on 22 pitches.

"I talked to the kids before the game and said, 'This is what we've got.' Get us a lead, we're going to roll Jay to 75 pitches — pulled him at 74 — we'll go 30 with Aiden and finish with Trent (Rider)," Hendrick said. "However that works and roll the next game."

Rider (10 pitches) worked a perfect seventh to end it.

Woodrow took a 1-0 lead in the first when Sims reached on an error to lead if off and later scored on Price's sac fly. Oak Hill got it back in the second when Owen Grose led off with a double and scored on Conner Smith's single one out later.

The Red Devils went up for good in the third when McLain tomahawked a high fastball over the left field fence for a two-run homer.

"That probably took the air out of them right there," Woodrow coach Mike McKinney said. "They fought back a little bit."

Woodrow (13-14) had a chance to get back while the deficit was still two runs in the fourth.

Blake Nixon led off and worked a full count after falling behind 0-2 then singled to left center. He moved up on a wild pitch and then went to third on Isaiah Lewis' groundout. Brady Williams then hit a line drive that looked to be a sure out, but the hot shot went off Grose's glove and caromed to shortstop. Aiden Smith alertly got to the ball and threw to first to nail Williams by a step and Nixon stayed at third.

Drew Gallaher then lifted a fly ball in foul territory in right field that Oak Hill's Caleb Compton dove and caught for the final out.

Oak Hill took advantage the next inning with two more unearned runs. Micah McCallaher reached on an error with one out and McLain was intentionally walked an out later. Hunter Elswick made Woodrow pay, lining a 3-1 pitch to left to score them both.

A two-run single by Rider with two outs in the sixth made it a six-run game.

Williams, a freshman, scattered eight hits over six innings. He struck out 11 and walked two, throwing 112 pitches.

"Him and Drew's (Gallaher) been our guys all year," McKinney said. "We felt confident putting him out there today. He's pitched well for us. He didn't pitch that bad tonight. They just had some timely hitting."

Woodrow will host Princeton Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in an elimination game.

"Just put this behind us and we've got to win every day now," McKinney said. "We're set good with our pitching staff. We've still got two or three. We're OK."