Brady Marshall, Reagan deliver lights-out performance to win CPC baseball tourney
As soon as the ball left Brady Marshall's bat in the bottom of the 11th inning, Coach Gary Nail of Reagan thought it was gone.
Reagan was playing against West Forsyth at Northwest Guilford in the championship game of the Central Piedmont 8A/7A tournament.
"The only problem was that he hit it to left-center field, where the fence is a little higher than other parts of the field," Nail said. "But watching it, it looked like it kind of stalled in the air but it was still carrying. He hit it well. And when we saw it go out, everybody ran out to home plate and mobbed him when he touched. It was a great celebration for a hit like that and the magnitude of the moment."
Marshall's two-run home run gave the Raiders a 6-4 win and plenty of momentum heading into next week's 7-A state tournament.
Marshall, who has committed to Wake Forest, hit a three-run home run against the Titans in a regular-season game on April 17.
Reagan (22-2), which beat West Forsyth (20-5) for the third time this season, should receive one of the top seeds for the state tournament based on its RPI. The Raiders have the No. 2 RPI in the latest 7-A rankings, with their only losses coming against Myers Park, the No. 2 team in RPI in the 8-A classification, and South Iredell.
West Forsyth has the No. 3 RPI in the 8-A classification.
Hopefully, neither team will have to overcome the lights going out when they begin play in their respective state tournaments as they did on Thursday.
With the Titans holding a 2-1 lead with two outs in the top of the fifth inning, the lights went out at Northwest Guilford. After a 20-minute delay while they powered back on, West Forsyth tacked on another run to take a 3-1 lead behind a solid outing by pitcher Mason Ridings.
Reagan responded in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 4-3 lead, only to see West Forsyth tie the game at 4 in the seventh to force extra innings.
"To be honest, we got lucky in the sixth," Nail said. "We scored two runs on an error and another on a bases-loaded walk. And to their credit, they came right back at us in the seventh inning to score and go to extras. They put the ball in play, which gave them the chance to make things happen."
West Forsyth's Jaxon Holloman led off the seventh with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice by Will Holden. Landon Church singled to bring Holloman home to tie the game at 4.
Jacob Raisig came on to relieve Sam Rice for the Raiders in the eighth inning and threw four scoreless innings.
Raisig threw a complete game two-hitter against the Titans during an 11-3 win on April 17.
"I thought Sam threw a lot better than the runs he gave up," Nail said. "It wasn't a clean game for us defensively. We had four errors, which isn't typical for us.
"Jacob came in and did a really good job in some pressure-packed moments. He made his pitches in some big spots. Both teams had their chances in extra innings with runners in scoring position."
West Forsyth had runners on second and third in the top of the 10th but couldn't push them across.
Reagan loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th with one out, but Church, who came in in the bottom of the seventh, got a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat.
"West Forsyth is one of the best teams we have played this season," Nail said. "Our conference is really strong, too. It's a tough league. Playing against teams like this and winning games like this will only make us more prepared for the state tournament. We played a tough schedule this year by design."
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