Chester baseball topples South Pointe

Josh Alley struck out 11 in a one-hitter and the Chester Cyclones took advantage of five South Pointe errors for a 13-3 Region 3-3A victory Friday night at South Pointe.

It was the third straight region game Chester allowed one run or less. Jake Wright threw a one-hitter against Union County on Tuesday and Trent Autry no-hit Lancaster last Friday. That’s two hits in 21 innings. Alley was also effective at the plate, hitting two doubles and driving in a pair of runs. He did struggle with his control as he issued nine walks and hit a batter. Alley allowed three runs, two earned, in the complete game win.

"All our pitchers are going to walk a couple guys,” said Chester coach Chris Powell. “Josh's fastball has a lot of movement and it's going to give him a little trouble, it gives the umpires a little trouble, and it gives the batters a lot of trouble. And he's batting almost .600 and leading our team in home runs. Tonight he did everything he could to help himself at the plate."

Alley led off the Chester second with a double to the right-field corner. A base hit by Tyler Jordan would score Alley for a 1-0 Cyclone lead. Jordan would come home on a two-out bloop infield hit by Cole Bagley that made it 2-0. The blooper dropped right over the pitcher Daniel Lipe’s head and in front of second base, where it died in the damp grass. Bagley was 3-for-4.

The flood gates opened for Chester in the third. Autry stroked a one-out triple to the fence in left. Alley’s second straight double to the right-field corner plated Autry for a 3-0 lead. Luke Blanchett followed with another double to right-center to make it 4-0. Jordan would then get the Cyclones’ fourth straight extra-base hit on a double down the third base line. Daniel Lipe misplayed Pacey Church’s two-out grounder back to him and Blanchett and Jordan raced home for a 6-0 edge. Blanchett reached base all five times for Chester.

"The last three games we've scored 37 runs, so our guys are hitting the ball really well,” said Powell. “They're taking practice serious and it's showing up out here. Our pitchers are pitching their butts off right now. Can't ask for more from them three than we've got over the last three games."

Alley struck out the side in the home third.

South Pointe finally got on the board in the fourth, with some help from their guests. Lipe reached on a error by the first baseman, and Joseph Wyatt walked an out later. With two outs, Kyle Dills grounded one up the middle. The shortstop Autry ranged behind second to make a nice play on the infield hit, but threw wildly to first, allowing Lipe to score the first Stallions run. It was the first South Pointe hit. Alley struck out Will Dunn with the bases loaded to end the biggest Stallion threat. It was the second straight inning Alley recorded all three outs by strikeout. He would strike out the first two in the fifth for eight in a row.

South Pointe was even more generous in the fifth. Two errors and a hit batter produced four more unearned runs in the inning. Kyle Williford had a sacrifice fly and Jake Wright a bases loaded double to drive them in.

Another error, another run for Chester in the sixth. Tyler Jordan drove in the run with his third hit and second RBI.

The Stallions plated two in their sixth on the second throwing error by the shortstop and an RBI groundout by Thomas Fallon.

The Cyclones finished with two more in the seventh.

Lipe gave up 11 runs for South Pointe but only four were earned.

This story was originally published March 27, 2015 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Chester baseball topples South Pointe."