By By Marty Stamper/EMG sports assistant
April 21, 2002
NEWTON – Following a 5-2 loss in Game 1 of their first round Class 2A best-of-three state baseball playoff series Thursday night, St. Andrew's coach Mark Fanning said the scouting report on Newton was that the Tigers were prone to make defensive mistakes.
Tiger pitcher Brent McMillan kept that flaw under wraps Thursday with 14 strikeouts in the series opener, but the Saints exposed the defensive shortcoming Saturday afternoon as Newton committed six errors in the first four innings of an 8-2 St. Andrew's victory that wrapped up the series two games to one for the Saints.
St. Andrew's got a run in the top of the first as Taylor Jones reached on an error, was sacrificed to second, stole third and came home when the high throw to third sailed into left field.
The Saints made it 2-0 in the second as William Craig walked, went to second on an infield out, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a two-out throwing error.
The Saints struck for three runs in the third. Curt Griffin beat out an infield hit, Trae Brown was hit by a pitch, and Tiger pitcher Cody Savell threw wide to third base trying to get the lead runner on a comebacker by Abram Orlansky. Craig had a run-scoring single and Hewitt Jones added a sacrifice fly for a 5-0 lead.
Newton got both of its runs in the bottom of the fourth. Savell singled and Zack Logan drew a two-out walk. Bobby Lindsey's double landed just inside the right-field line to score both runners.
The Tigers had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but Brown got Savell to pop up to the mound and fanned Jeremy Tune to nip the threat without any damage.
St. Andrew's added three insurance runs in the top of the seventh with Hewitt Jones hitting an RBI-double and Brad Baskin an RBI-single. Brown also had a double in the inning with Craig's fielder's choice plating a run.
For the game, the Saints had nine hits, five of which never left the infield. Newton finished with six errors as Savell (1-2) took the loss.
Brown (6-4) got the complete game win. He was the Saints' ace a year ago, losing 7-6 to Mooreville in the third game of the 2001 2A state championship series.
Taylor Jones and Baskin both went 2-for-4 for the Saints. Six different Tigers had one hit apiece.
Newton, the Division 5-2A champion, finished with a 17-9 record. St. Andrew's, 22-13, faces Seminary, 21-11, in second-round action Friday.