Baseball: Vestavia Hills sweeps Gardendale in playoff doubleheader

Published 11:56 pm Friday, April 20, 2012

Gardendale’s baseball team realized something Friday: The over-the-mountain schools play a different level of the game than they usually see around these parts.

The Rockets were dealt an early exit from the AHSAA Class 6A playoffs at the hands of Vestavia Hills, who swept the first-round doubleheader by scores of 13-4 and 3-0.

The Rebels shelled Bryce Jay unmercifully in the opening game, with four hits and a walk in their first six batters to start the contest. Only in the second inning were the Rockets able to keep Vestavia from crossing home plate.

“We had to play well. They’ve got pitching and hitting and we do, too. But we just didn’t pitch well enough early,” Keedy said. “We’re a scrappy little team, and when we get behind like that early, we get down. Then we scratched back and got four, but they came back and got even more.”

And the Rebels did give Gardendale hope in a way very unlike their usual steady defensive form, by committing six errors – three of them in the third inning, allowing the hosts to score their only runs of the entire night.

Chris Walton reached first on a lead-off walk for the Rockets, then shortstop Chris Blakey laid down a bunt which first baseman Robert Smith dropped. Jay then got on board with the only base hit of the inning, then two batters later Mason McAnnally drove in Walton and Blakey when Rebel second baseman Corbin Potter misplayed the ball.

Joseph Calvert then hit into an error at third which allowed Jay to come home.

The lack of defensive support didn’t seem to faze pitcher Ben Gann, who struck out five Rockets and scattered six hits — no more than one in any inning.

“He handles that pretty well, and that’s something we try to stress for everybody,” Vestavia coach Dal Davis said. “I’m the one that does the worst job of that — I tell them, ‘As long as you don’t do like me…’ But he was pitching great. Ben did a great job.”

Gann also excelled in the batter’s box; he launched a 2-0 pitch off reliever Joseph Calvert into the bed of a pickup truck parked on the hill behind the left field fence for a solo homer. Georgie Salem also slammed a no-doubt solo shot well over the right field fence in the fourth inning. Salem was 3-for-4 for the game, with a double to his credit as well.

Vestavia knocked a pair of doubles to lead off the third, followed by triples from Ryan Smith and Potter — the latter hitting in the ninth spot in the order, where he went 4-for-5 with three RBIs, and was a home run shy of the cycle. Smith was 3-for-5 with an RBI.

In all, the Rebs totaled 18 hits, 13 of them off Jay over his five innings’ work.

Jay was 2-for-4 with an RBI for Gardendale.

In the nightcap, the bats cooled off for both teams, but the Rebels’ Davis Rickard was in full control of Gardendale from the mound. He allowed just three hits in his complete-game victory, and got out of a jam in the sixth when he loaded the bases with a hit batsman and two walks, but then induced first baseman Jesse Blackburn to ground out to short to end the threat.

That was as close as the Rockets got to catching Vestavia, which scored single runs in the first, third and fourth innings. Jimmy Laughlin doubled with one out in the first and scored on Salem’s double, Potter scored on a Gann hit, and Smith scored on Potter’s sacrifice fly.

Smith also kept Dickard’s shutout intact when he caught what was expected to be a sac fly in the third, but fired a laser throw to the plate to get Gardendale’s Jake Freeman out. That run would have tied the game at that point.

Chris Walton went the distance for the Rockets on the mound, handing out nine hits and two walks with no strikeouts.

Gardendale finishes the season at 22-12.

Note: This story has been changed to reflect corrections in the official scoring after the games.