Madison Academy baseball team claims 3A title
mabaseball.org
By Budd McLaughlin | For The Record
MONTGOMERY – How good was the 3A state championship series Thursday between Madison Academy and Sipsey Valley?
“You could not have watched two better baseball games,” said Madison Academy head coach Mike Good.
His Mustangs won the championship at Montgomery’s Riverwalk Stadium by identical 3-2 scores in the two-game sweep of Sipsey Valley.
It was the Bears’ first time in the finals. For the Mustangs, it was their first championship since 2009, though they finished second in 2010 and 2011.
Senior leftfielder Bo McLaughlin was named MVP of the series for his six-hit performance over the two games. Junior Taylor Clemons was the winning pitcher in Game 1 and senior Greg Lambert was the Game 2 winner.
Lambert, who has signed with Southern Illinois University, was cruising through Game 2, giving up just two hits through 6 innings. He was staked to a 3-0 lead on a two-RBI hit by Will Acuff to score Logan McDonald and Emerson Brooks in the second and Blake Coward’s RBI single in the fourth which drove in Acuff.
The Bears rallied for two runs in the 6th to cut the lead to 3-2 but Lambert put them down in order in the 7th and the celebration began.
In Game 1, the Mustangs took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Jake Christa doubled to drive in McDonald, who had singled.
MA made it 2-0 in the top of the fourth on Brooks’ RBI groundout to bring home Cody Littlejohn. But the Bears cut it to 2-1 in the bottom of the inning.
Clemons ripped a two-out double down the right field line to score McLaughlin in the top of the 5th for a 3-1 lead, but it was short-lived when the Bears answered with a run in the bottom of the inning.
The Bears threatened in the 6th and chased Clemons with two outs before Lucas Mordecai pitched in relief for the final out.
In the bottom of the 7th, Sipsey Valley loaded the bases against Christa the closer with two outs but he struck out Tyler Duncan to end the game.
