South Pointe tops Northwestern for first time in school history

South Pointe grabbed its first baseball win over Northwestern in school history Thursday night, beating the Trojans 8-5 in non-region action.

The Stallions pushed four runs across in the first and held their nerve when the Trojans evened the score at 5-5 in the third. Spencer Bala and Kyle Dills produced RBI hits in the fifth and sixth innings as Joel Taylor’s team pulled away for an historic win.

“It’s no different than a Clemson-Carolina. You want to beat your rival cross-town,” said Taylor afterward. “I told our kids it’s a long time coming, to enjoy it, and stay classy.”

Bala and Dills each had a pair of RBI hits. Dills went 10-for-14 during four games in the Wheels tournament last weekend, and continued his sweet swinging Thursday night. Feeling the full effect of senior year urgency, Dills was 3-for-3 with a fielder’s choice and three RBIs against the Trojans.

“Spring break I got into it. I was like, ‘I gotta’ do something different because I got to make it to college.’ Mainly I’m just trying to get my name out there now,” he said.

The Stallions are 2-4 in Region 3-3A and scrapping for a playoff spot following a loss to Chester on Wednesday, but they stepped out of region play successfully on Thursday with the help of a fast start. Chris Hutto and Austin Harrigan got aboard and Dills delivered his first run-scoring hit, tomahawking a double into left field for a 2-0 lead.

“Dillsy started off very slow but he’s been hot. It started in the Wheels tournament, and it’s just continued,” said Taylor. “He came up with some big hits tonight, as well as Spencer Bala.”

The lead grew to 5-1 in the top of the third as Bala shot a missile down the third base line to score Stephen Thompson. But Northwestern has made a living under coach Mitch Walters as a team that can come from behind and win. The host Trojans put the fear in the South Pointe side of the field with four runs in the bottom half of the third.

Dupree Hart capped a run of four straight hits for the Trojans with a 2-run double that made it 5-4, and he scored on Eric Taylor’s ground ball to tie the game at 5-all.

But South Pointe starting pitcher Austin Harrigan – who went the distance on the hill – didn’t allow another runner past second base and the Stallions got the offense they needed to claim the win. Bala raked a two-run single in the fifth and Dills added an RBI single in the sixth as insurance.

“We just came out here with a different attitude,” said Dills. “Take it ever at-bat, calm it down, slow the game down. Just do what we need to do.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 9:44 PM with the headline "South Pointe tops Northwestern for first time in school history."