Logan's Landon Hall (sliding) steals second base as Irmo's Chance O'Cain awaits the throw from catcher Dalton Gravelle in the first inning of Logan's 12-2 six inning loss Saturday afternoon in the Junior League Baseball Regional (Photo by Bill Lusk/WVOW Sports).
Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
BRIDGEWATER, VIRGINIA Jackson Phipps drove in four runs and Wayland Grillot had two hits and three runs, helping the Irmo (South Carolina) Junior League beat the Logan Junior League 12-2 in six innings on Saturday afternoon in the Junior League Baseball Southeast Regional at Ray Heatwole Field.
Cooper Derrick had a double and drove in two runs and Charlie Todd had one hit, drove in one and scored three times for Irmo, which moves into Sunday’s winner’s bracket championship against Fort Lauderdale, Florida at 3 p.m.
Todd pitched three innings giving up one run, three hits and a walk while striking out three for the win. Gage Glipin picked up a three-inning save and gave up one run on two hits, walked one and struck out two.
Irmo got out to a quick start as the first five batters reached base and scored in the opening inning. The first seven batters reached base safely before Logan recorded the first out. When the inning ended, Irmo had five hits on four hits and took advantage of two walks and two hit batters.
Walks were an issue for Logan pitching, who was outhit 9-5 by Irmo. Three pitchers walked 12 batters and hit three additional batters.
“I am not for sure what the official number was, but when you look up there on the scoreboard, they outhit us 9-5, that is plus-4, they outscored us by 10,” Logan manager Doug Williamson said. “I assume we had double digit walks, and I didn’t know, but we couldn’t overcome the walks.”
Logan got a run back in the bottom of the first when David Browning singled to score Landon Hall, cutting the deficit to 5-1.
The score remained 5-1 until the top of the third when Irmo plated two runs to take a 7-1 lead. In the fourth, Irmo plated two additional runs to jump out to a 9-1 lead before Logan got an RBI single from Jack Ball in the bottom of the fourth scoring Browning to make it 9-2.
“We got behind early and stayed at 5-1, 6-1 in the second and third, but we just couldn’t overcome the walks,” Williamson said.
Irmo plated three runs in the sixth and held Logan off the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth to invoke the mercy rule.
Browning had two hits, drove in one and scored one for Logan while Ball had one hit and one RBI.
“They have been bright spots all week,” Williamson said. “Jack Ball and David both, have put a lot of balls in play.”
Owen Bryant allowed five runs on three hits, walking one and hitting one before being pulled after five batters. Bryant suffered the loss and was relieved by Crew Blankenship, who allowed four runs on four hits, walked eight and struck out one in three innings. Riley McClung pitched the remaining three innings for Logan, allowing three runs, two hits and three walks.
Despite the loss, Williamson remained confident that Logan could still make a run out of the loser’s bracket and advance to Tuesday’s championship game.
Logan will face Wilmington, North Carolina in an elimination game at noon on Sunday. If Logan defeats Wilmington they will face the winner of Athens, Georgia and Upper Loudoun, Virginia at 6 p.m. Sunday evening.
“We got four starters left, so we feel good about our pitching tomorrow,” Williamson said. “We didn’t want to play tomorrow, but now that we do, we got four pitchers and still think that we can go out and win two games tomorrow.”
“We got North Carolina, and we scouted them and Florida at 9 a.m. on the first day,” Williamson said. “If we come out here and play well then we will have a chance to win.”
Glipin and Heath McElroy each had one hit and one RBI and Chase Ellis had a triple and scored twice for Irmo, who also got one RBI from Chance O’Cain, and two runs scored from Dalton Gravelle.
Hall had one hit and scored one run and Grayson Sanders one hit for Logan.
“It just wasn’t our day,” Williamson said. “We didn’t play good, we don’t have no excuses, they just outplayed us today and we will give it a go tomorrow.”
2023 Junior League Baseball Southeast Regional
Friday July 28
Game 1 Fort Lauderdale (FL) 12, Wilmington (NC) 2 (Five Innings)
Game 2 Irmo (SC) 10, Upper Loudoun (VA) 7
Game 3 Logan (WV) 7, Murfreesboro (TN) 1
Saturday July 29
Game 4 Fort Lauderdale (FL) 11, Athens (GA) 1 (Five Innings)
Game 5 Irmo (SC) 12, Logan (WV) 2 (Six Innings)
Game 6 Upper Loudoun (VA) 17, Murfreesboro (TN) 3 (Five Innings)
Sunday July 30
Game 7 Athens (GA) Vs Upper Loudoun (VA) 9:00 AM
Game 8 Wilmington (NC) Vs Logan (WV) 12 Noon
Game 9 Fort Lauderdale (FL) Vs Irmo (SC) 3:00 PM
Game 10 Winner Game 7 Vs Winner Game 8 6:00 PM
Monday July 31
Game 11 Loser Game 9 Vs Winner Game 10 10:00 AM
Tuesday August 1
Game 12 Winner Game 9 Vs Winner Game 11 10:00 AM
Friday July 28
Game 12 Game 10 Winner Vs Winner Game 11 11:00 AM
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