Oak Grove stings Gulfport late, forces winner-takes-all game Monday

Drew Boyd hasn’t pitched in nearly two months. But in one of the biggest moments of the season Saturday night, Oak Grove turned to its star and the Southern Miss signee delivered.

Clinging to a one-run lead and the season on the line, Warrior starter Jordan Coursey battled control problems most of the night but limited a potent Gulfport team to just two runs. After plunking two Admirals in the seventh, Oak Grove coach Chris McCardle had seen enough. He went to the mound with the intention of bringing in Kris Smith but was persuaded to put in his star.

Boyd showed signs of rust from being sidelined with a UCL strain during his warmup throws, but induced a double play to his third baseman to preserve the come-from-behind 3-2 victory.

The Warrior (29-5) win sends the Class 6A South State series back to Gulfport for a winner-takes-all Game 3 at 7 p.m. Monday. The winner advances to face Tupelo, which swept Hernando in the North State series, at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Pearl.

“We're good. We still have another game Monday. Our season didn't end tonight,” Gulfport coach Jamie McMahon said. “We have another one to go and it's going to be at our place. That's our fourth loss but the other three we responded well the next day. I told them, no panic. We're good.

“The last play of the game was a rocket, just right at him. That's just how it went tonight.”

Early momentum

Coursey struggled with control for much of the night. After walking two in the first, he surrendered a leadoff single in the second. With two outs and the runner at third, a wild pitch scored courtesy runner Keoki James to give the Admirals a 1-0 lead. Dillon Brown then singled up the middle to score Beckett White. At the time it looked like just the start of an offensive outburst for Gulfport. Instead, the Warriors consistently danced around baserunners and the Admirals never strung together enough hits together to pile on.

“He started out a little shaky. We were missing in, missing out, calling it outside and he’d throw it inside. We made an error and then walk a guy and make an error and they get a hit and score on a passed ball,” McCardle said of Coursey. “... I thought he did a really good job of calming our team down and taking over the game from the mound standpoint – like their guy did Thursday. It kept us in the game and finally something good happened for us with (Ryan) Blackburn’s home run.”

Trailing 2-0 in the fifth, Blackburn got Oak Grove on the scoreboard.

The recent Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College signee belted a shot high down the left field line. McCardle thought off the bat that the ball was going to go foul, but it somehow stayed fair long enough to dip over the wall for his first homer of the season.

Boyd tied the game in the sixth with a solo home run to the deepest part of the field in center.

“I knew it had a chance. I knew the wind was blowing out. I was just like, ‘just get it in the air, get it in the air,’” Boyd said. “He was pitching me fastballs basically all night. I was looking for it and got under it and the wind carried it out pretty good. I saw the center fielder starting to stop like he was about to catch it and I was like you have to be kidding me.

“Then he started backing up, backing up and it went out. I was so excited.”

Kris Jones broke the 2-2 tie later in the inning with an RBI-double into the left-center gap.

Defensive magic

The Admiral defense went to work in the fourth as two singles sandwitched Nelms’ first walk of the game to load the bases. Oak Grove’s Zach Dearman hit a hot shot to GHS second baseman Castor Lee, who pitched the ball to shortstop Gabe Lacy for Gulfport’s second double play of the game. Nelms then blew a pitch by Boyd to keep the Warriors off the scoreboard.

“That’s what we have to do when he’s pitching,” McMahon said. “We made some really good defensive plays, some relays and some double plays.”

The Admirals momentarily kept the game tied in the sixth. After Boyd’s homer, Oak Grove’s Kade Shannon scorched a ball off the center field wall with a runner on second. Brown quickly tracked down the ball down and threw it to Lacy, who relayed the ball home to Blake Johnson. The throw was well ahead of the runner, who was out by several strides. Jones’ double, however, scored Shannon’s pinch runner on the next play to push the Warriors ahead 3-2.

Looking ahead

Monday’s game is a big one as the Admirals are looking to return to the state championship series for the first time since 2005. The Warriors last won a title in 2014 and were South State champs the following season. Both coaches said they’re unsure who will take the mound Monday. McMahon said everyone but Nelms will be available. McCardle joked he was about to put all his names in a hat and pull one.

This story was originally published May 13, 2017 at 10:24 PM with the headline "Oak Grove stings Gulfport late, forces winner-takes-all game Monday."