Sam Chandler
Homewood Baseball
Homewood's Josh Miller (11) delivers a pitch during his two-hit gem in the second game of a playoff doubleheader against Pell City on April 23, 2016 at Homewood High School.
The Homewood High School baseball team (18-12) swept Pell City (20-18) in the opening round of the AHSAA Class 6A state playoffs on Friday, April 22.
Playing at Homewood Field, the Patriots handed the visiting Panthers a pair of tightly-contested 5-3, 2-1 losses in a rain-delayed doubleheader.
Homewood, the 6A-9 champion, will face Oxford, the 6A-10 champion, in the second round next weekend.
“We’re playing great defense, getting great pitching,” Homewood head coach Doug Gann said. “We probably didn’t get enough timely hitting today, but we had just enough, because we left a lot of runners on base. Hopefully we can improve on that before next week, but real proud of our guys.”
Game One: Homewood wins 5-3
With the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Patriots infielder John Marc Mullins sailed a triple to deep right field that scored pinch runner Alec Marsch, breaking the stalemate.
“John Marc battled with two strikes there and got a big hit for us, and we were able to come through,” Gann said.
Serving as the substitute base runner for relief pitcher Austin Spiers, Marsch sprinted home from second base to give his team a game-sealing lead.
Spiers set the table for Mullins’ pivotal RBI, leading off the inning with a single to shallow right.
Mullins also crossed home a few pitches later, when a passed ball rolled to the backstop during a Carson Griffis at-bat.
Spiers, working in relief on Griffis, retired the side in the top of the seventh to clinch the team’s 5-3 victory.
Game Two: Homewood wins 2-1
A pitching duel highlighted the doubleheader's second segment.
While Pell City starter Charles Robinson maintained a no-hitter through the first three-plus innings, Homewood’s Josh Miller stole the show.
Like the damp nighttime air surrounding the diamond, Miller got cooler as the game progressed.
After surrendering a pair of hits in the first inning, including a long home run by the Panthers’ Thomas Horton, the southpaw found his groove. Over the final six innings, he didn’t give up a single hit on his way to registering a complete game.
“I was kind of nervous, kind of uptight the first inning,” Miller said, “but then kind of got my cool, settled down and just kept throwing.”
Relying on off-speed pitches, particularly his breaking ball, Miller made quick work of the Pell City lineup. In five of the seven innings he took the mound, Miller faced only three opposing batters.
“Josh has been unbelievable this year,” Gann said. “That’s his sixth win and he has been just outstanding. There’s not enough superlatives to say about his performance this year for us on the mound.”
Held hitless through the game’s first three innings, the Patriots caught a break in the fourth when Griffis reached base on a fielding error. He then advanced to third on outfielder John Wildman’s no-hitter-shattering single to right field.
Griffis crossed the plate during the subsequent at-bat thanks to a passed ball.
Later in the inning, infielder Jacob Fitts punched a finicky infield hit between third base and shortstop that pushed Wildman across the plate.
Miller had no issue preserving his team's diminutive lead.
"I just had a feeling that he could get it done," Gann said, "and he proved me right."
With round one in the books, the team will shift its focus to the upcoming three-game series with Oxford.
“Hopefully we continue to play good defense and get quality pitching and improve on our hitting," Gann said. "We’ve still got some guys not hitting as well as they’re capable of and hopefully we can get that straightened out and move on.”
