Gilreath, Northwestern baseball top Dorman for District I Class 4A playoff win

Northwestern sophomore pitcher John Gilreath was one batter away from being removed from the game against Dorman Saturday afternoon, according to Trojan head coach Mitch Walters.

That batter never came up, as Gilreath got Douglas Angeli on a swinging third strike with two runners in scoring position to end the game and finish a 4-1 home victory for the Trojans over the Cavaliers in the District I Class 4A playoffs.

“That was his last batter,” Walters said of the seventh inning. “We were coming with another sophomore if we would’ve had to make a change.”

Northwestern has won the first two games in the playoffs and will next play Wednesday at home. Dorman had already scored one in the seventh on Jack Hennessy’s soft looper to left field. With the potential tying run at the plate, Gilreath bore down for the strikeout. Though he may have been fading late, he still did some of his best pitching in the closing innings. He recorded all five of his strikeouts in the final three frames, including his first one which ended the fifth with the bases loaded full of Cavaliers and the Trojans only up 2-0. Two of the hits that loaded the bases didn’t get out of the infield. He struck out two of the three batters he faced in the sixth.

Gilreath got the complete game win and scattered eight hits for the one run while not walking a batter. He also had solid error-free defense behind him, and his outfielders made back-to-back inning-ending diving catches in the second and third innings. Rightfielder Luke Gibson charged in and snagged a sinking drive off the bat of Hunter Smith just before it touched grass to end the second inning. Dorman had two men on at the time. In the third, Jordan Starkes made a running catch at the warning track in centerfield to end that half inning.

Northwestern put two up in their first at-bat. Andrew Shipman reached with two outs when catcher’s interference was called on a foul ball down the first base side. He took second without a throw on the next pitch to join Starkes, who had led off with a walk, in scoring position. Ian Estes then came through with a base hit to right-center to score both and give the home team an early edge.

In the home fifth, Starkes again led off with a walk and stole second. Two outs later, Shipman chopped one through the left side of the infield to plate Starkes and chase Dorman starting pitcher Cameron Hall from the game. Hall gave up four runs, three earned, on five hits in 4.2 innings, while striking out three and walking two. When the shortstop booted a grounder off the bat of Jeff Taylor, Shipman scored the final Trojan run.

TURNING POINT

The Cavaliers looked like they might tie the game or even take the lead in the fifth inning when three singles loaded the bases with two outs in a 2-0 game. But Gilreath got Angeli looking for his first strikeout of the game to end the inning. The Trojans then tacked on two more in the bottom half of the inning for a huge momentum swing.

CRITICAL

The catcher’s interference with two outs in the first was big for the Trojans. That put Shipman on and led to Estes’ huge two-out, two-run hit to set the tone for the day. Gibson’s catch in the ensuing next half inning made a difference too. If that ball gets down, it’s only 2-1 Northwestern with more possible damage on the way.

STAR CONTRIBUTORS

Gilreath had good control and did not walk a batter, and made big pitches when he needed to. Starkes started both scoring innings for the Trojans with a walk and scored each time. Shipman had a double and another key run-scoring hit. Estes started the scoring with his first inning base hit. Jack Hennessy was 2-for-4 and drove in Dorman’s only run. Daniel Wetmore was 3-for-3 and Smith would have been if not for Gibson’s nice catch.

OVERHEARD

“John’s last two outings haven’t been his best, and he pitched well today and that’s what we needed against a quality team out of Region 2,” Walters said of Gilreath.

“There’s still room for improvement and we always will preach that,” Walters said.

“Today he added a third pitch, and that was his curveball,” Walters said of Gilreath’s late strikeouts. “In other games, he hadn’t been getting that for a strike, but he was throwing it for a strike today.”

ON DECK

Dorman will play Laurens Monday and Northwestern will get the winner at home Wednesday at 5 p.m.

This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Gilreath, Northwestern baseball top Dorman for District I Class 4A playoff win."