Bob Jones baseball team outlasts Sparkman to advance
Grant Chandler works on Saturday
(RECORD PHOTO/LINDSAY VAUGHT)
MADISON- Unlike last year, this time there was no seventh inning comeback for Sparkman to dash the hopes of Bob Jones. The Patriots set a new school record with their 35th victory of the season Saturday afternoon as they posted a 3-0 win in the deciding game of the second round of the state playoffs to advance to play Hoover next weekend.
Grant Chandler silenced Sparkman’s bats as the Bob Jones sophomore pitched a complete game allowing only two hits and striking out four.
“Grant has been good all year so I felt confident in him,” Bob Jones baseball coach Jeff Bell said. “If we could score one or two runs we had a great chance to win.”
“I’m just excited for our guys,” Bell said. “Going into this year we were really young and we didn’t know what kind of team we had but we’ve got better as the year progressed. What an amazing bunch to be around and to coach.”
Bell said this team has a good chance to advance to Montgomery and the state championship. To do that, they will have to get past Hoover next weekend. The teams have not played this season.
“They seem to always find a way to win,” Bell said of his team’s chances. “They are going to play hard. When you do the little things right, when your pitchers work ahead in the count, throw strikes, play great defense behind them and get timely hitting which we have been doing all year then you got a chance to win no matter who you play.”
The Patriots got some timely hitting to score three runs in the fourth inning as Matt Sanders’ single drove home a run, a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by Trey Ward allowed Matt Bolger to score and a double steal plated another run. For Chandler it was all he needed.
“I worked off my fastball and when I got ahead I could throw my curveball for strikes and let my defense work,” said Chandler, a sophomore who won eight games in this his first varsity season.
Shortstop Matt Bolger made several plays to keep the shutout going.
“It’s always good to beat Sparkman,” said Bolger.
The win “takes a little bit of the sting out of the loss last year. It’s a new group. It’s exciting to move on,” Bolger added.
“Hoover’s nice, we played there last year. It’s going to be fun playing there. It’s going to be a fun atmosphere. I know they will bring out their fans and I know we will too.”
Hoover dominated Tuscaloosa County 9-0 and 3-0 in second round games.
“They got two good pitchers but we got a good team too. I’m looking forward to it,” Bolger said.
The Patriots will celebrate this record victory for a couple of days before getting ready for Hoover.
