Down 5-1, Myers Park rallies to beat rival Ardrey Kell in NCHSAA baseball playoffs.
Thursday night, in the second round of the N.C. 4A playoffs, conference rivals Ardrey Kell and Myers Park met for the fourth time this season.
Like the other three, the game had plenty of emotional ups and downs, for both teams.
But after trailing by four runs early, Myers Park rallied for an 8-6 win.
Ardrey Kell got things going, scoring a run due to a fielders choice error by Mustang pitcher Luke McGrath. Then, following the Mustangs leveling the game at 1-1 in the top of the third, the Knight’s bats got hot. They would score four runs in the inning, capped off by two RBIs by Tyler Smith.
But the Mustangs would chip away at Ardey Kell’s lead slowly.
Myers Park eventually got a 6-5 lead, thanks to an RBI by Daniel Shuta. Shutta was 3-4 on the plate during the game and came through when the team needed him to.
Ardrey Kell bounced right back, when Jacob Kirby was brought home from third by Issac Pena who hit one through right-centerfield tying the game up at six runs apiece.
After that, Myers Park scored the decisive runs as the teams finished 2-2 against each other in four meetings this season.
“It’s always going to be a tough matchup with the cross-county rivalry in the city of Charlotte,” Mustang head coach Erik Foor said. “Hats off to our guys for sticking to their approach all game. (We) came out a little flat, bounced back, and grinded it out.”
One Mustang that was hitting well the whole game was the lead-off batter Reece Perry, who was 3-for-5 on the night and helped to bring home a few runs as well.
“We have seen all their guys (pitchers) maybe three or four times this year,” Perry said. “You just have to sit back, stay inside the baseball and that was my approach all game.”
With the win, Myers Park advances to the third round where they will host Reagan on May 17 in hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals. The message from coach Foor will be the same as it was tonight heading into the next round and that is simply to stick to their process.
THREE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE
▪ Reece Perry, Myers Park: Along with going 3-for-5 on the night, Perry had a few stolen bases putting himself up in scoring position. Batting lead-off, it is critical to get the momentum going in your team’s direction, and Perry was able to do that in this game.
▪ Daniel Shutta, Myers Park: A 3-for-4 night at the plate for Shutta as well as bringing home the leading run to take the first lead of the game for the Mustangs.
▪ Michael Craft, Ardrey Kell: Lead-off batter for the knights had several big hits on his 2-for-4 night at the plate. The son of the Knights basketball coach Mike Craft, the younger Craft put his team in a position to win, but just fell short in the end.
WORTH MENTIONING
▪ There were only a total of seven strikeouts in a game that saw five different pitchers. The bats were hot in this game.
▪ This is the highest-scoring affair between these two teams as there were more runs scored in this matchup than any of the other three combined.
WHAT’S NEXT
Myers Park will host Reagan in the third round of the NCHSAA 4A Playoffs on May 17 while Ardery Kell’s season will come to a close.
SCORING SUMMARY
Myers Park: 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 – 8
Ardrey Kell: 1 0 4 0 0 1 0 – 6
WP: Jim Johnson (3.0 IP, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 ER)
LP: Mason Caskey (0.7 IP, 0 K, 0 BB, 1ER)
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 11:15 PM.
