Northwestern noses past Fort Mill late in region baseball opener

Kirk Clayton’s well-executed bunt in the bottom of the seventh inning sealed an 8-7 Northwestern comeback baseball win over Fort Mill Tuesday night.

Clayton, a fifth-inning pinch-hitter, stepped to the plate with runners on first and second and no outs. His bunt nudged the ball toward the third base line, and by the time the throw one-hopped to first, Cameron Smith was sliding home to win the game. The Trojans (3-1, 1-0 Region 3-4A) haven’t lost a region game since 2011, and winning close ones is a big reason why.

“We’re very happy we did not quit,” said Northwestern coach Mitch Walters. “We got down 7-2 and kept battling.”

Fort Mill coach Brad Mercer was disappointed with the result, a product of a flimsy final few innings and four errors.

“We got some hits early, some timely hitting early, and just couldn’t keep it going,” he said.

The Yellow Jackets (2-4, 0-1) were up 7-2 in the top of the fifth and cruising along. Mason Jordan opened the scoring in the first inning, blasting a three-run homer off of Northwestern starter Eric Taylor. The Furman signee gave up three hits and walked four in two innings and some change. Back-to-back bases on balls loaded the bags for Fort Mill in the top of the third when Taylor made way for lefty Sadler Poe. The Jackets scored on a double-play ball to make it 4-0, but Poe escaped otherwise unscathed.

Northwestern laced a few hits together in the third, Grant Golke’s RBI single making it 4-2, but Fort Mill starting pitcher Clay Helvey struck out the next four batters to get into the fifth. That’s when the College of Charleston signee, who struck out seen but allowed six runs on five hits and walked three, found his choppy water.

“Clay threw a great game, but got a little tired at the end,” Mercer said. “Some of that’s from not throwing and not having his stamina up.”

Will Hagood’s bases loaded double in the bottom half of the fifth inning chomped into the visitors’ lead. Helvey walked three of the first four batters he faced in that frame and Hagood jumped on a two-out fastball to cut the Yellow Jacket lead to 7-5. Clayton then followed with a run-scoring single to make it 7-6 before the final out of the inning.

Northwestern used four pitchers during the game, and the third, Cameron Smith, found a groove in the top of the sixth by getting a pop-up and two strikeouts. The momentum was squarely in the Trojans’ favor by that point and they turned it into production in the bottom of the sixth. Luke Gibson got on base through an infield error and Trojan leadoff man Dupree Hart followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 7 all. Hart raced to third on the throw home, but Northwestern stranded him there when Fort Mill reliever Clay King got Golke to ground out.

Golke would have his shining moment, though. He replaced Smith on the mound in the top of the seventh and got a liner to the outfield before fanning the next two batters to set his team up for a dramatic win in the bottom of the seventh.

“I’m fighting the coaches; they want (Golke) as a No. 2 (starter),” Walters said. “We try to get to the fifth and sixth and he and Dupree are coming on the back end. We’ve got to try and get there.”

With the game ripe for the taking, Walters’ crew, as it has numerous times the last three springs, snatched.

Smith led off with a walk, before Hagood smoked a ball to centerfield that was dropped at the last second. Clayton then put the ball in play and Smith slid home for the walk-off run to claim another unlikely-looking win.

“We were just trying to get runners to third and second,” said Walters. “We figured that even if they get the out they would walk the next guy and bring up another one. The subs played a lot tonight. This year’s team there is not six or seven that you counted on every game. We’ve got some good subs that came in and produced tonight.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 9:34 PM with the headline "Northwestern noses past Fort Mill late in region baseball opener."