Marchman pitches Callaway past Thomasville
Published 1:00 am Thursday, May 10, 2018
By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY
Daily New
With the season on the line, Callaway’s Wesley Marchman delivered a masterpiece.
The sophomore right-hander threw nine brilliant innings to help Callaway beat Thomasville 2-1 in the second game of their Class AA quarterfinal playoff series on Wednesday.
Thomasville won the first game 9-3, so the teams will play a winner-take-all game three today at Callaway, with the first pitch set for 3:30 p.m.
Marchman was untouchable.
In his nine innings on the mound, Marchman held Thomasville to five hits and one unearned run, and he struck out 11 and didn’t walk anyone.
Walt Stewart threw a perfect bottom of the 10th to finish it and force a game three.
“I’ll tell you what Wesley did,” Callaway head coach Dusty Hubbard said. “He put his whole team on his back and carried them. That’s exactly what he did.”
After Thomasville won the first game, Marchman knew he’d be getting the ball in a do-or-die situation, and he was ready for that moment.
“We’re down in the series, and I feel confident all the time,” Marchman said. “I wasn’t going to let anything get to me.”
The only run Marchman allowed came in the bottom of the fifth inning, and it was unearned.
“Coach Hubbard told us, just hit your spots, and they won’t hit you,” Marchman said. “And I did that.”
After Callaway scored a run in the top of the 10th, Thomasville had a chance to pull even or possibly win the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Fortunately for the Cavaliers, Stewart was up to the challenge.
The right-hander got a pop-up for the first out, and he got a pair of strikeouts to finish it.
Callaway scored what turned out to be the game-winning run in the top of the 10th, with leadoff hitter Drake Wade getting it done.
With one out, Wade walked, and he stole second and went to third on an error.
Wade then scored on a wild pitch to give the Cavaliers the lead.
“He’s our offensive spark plug,” Hubbard said of Wade.
Thomasville scored first with a run in the bottom of the fifth.
Harrison Stewart reached on an error with one out, and with two outs, Zeb Maxwell came through with an RBI triple to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
Callaway came right back with a run in the top of the inning.
Wade led off with a walk, and Kyle Campbell followed with a base hit to put men on second.
After Chandler Lott got down a sacrifice bunt, Braelin Mitchell was walked to load the bases.
After Wade was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice grounder by Marchman, Trent Sheppard stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs.
On a 3-2 count, Sheppard took a pitch out of the strike zone for a walk, and Campbell came home with the tying run.
It remained deadlocked at 1-1 until the 10th inning when the Cavaliers took their first and only lead of the game.
Callaway was limited to three hits by a trio of Thomasville pitchers.
Jacob Bradshaw started for Thomasville, and he threw eight terrific innings, holding Callaway to three hits and one run with eight strikeouts.
JT Rice pitched 1 2/3 innings and gave up one run, Harrison Vance got the final out of the top of the 10th.
Wade had a hit and three walks from the leadoff position for the Cavaliers, and Campbell and Kurian each had a hit.
Maxwell had two of Thomasville’s five hits.
GAME ONE
THOMASVILLE 9, CALLAWAY 3
Kyle Campbell gave Callaway the lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning, but it was Thomasville surging to the 9-3 win in the first game of the playoff series.
Nathan Smith and Parker Zolt each hit home runs for Thomasville, and Hurston Waldrep got the complete-game victory.
Waldrep gave up four hits and two runs with six strikeouts, and he held Callaway scoreless after the third inning.
Thomasville took the lead with in the top of the third on a two-out, two-run single by Harrison Stewart.
Callaway answered with a run in the bottom of the third, with Chandler Lott’s base hit bringing home Drake Wade, who led off with a walk.
It remained a tie game until Zolt’s two-run home run in the top of the fifth gave Thomasville a 4-2 lead.
After Thomasville extended its lead to 7-2 with three runs in the top of the sixth, Callaway scored its final run in the bottom of the inning.
Chandler Lott reached on a base hit, and after stealing third, he scored when the throw from the catcher got away.
Smith’s solo home run in the top of the seventh capped the scoring.
Lott had two of Callaway’s four hits, and Campbell and Marchman each had a hit.
JT Rice had four hits for the Bulldogs, and Smith had two hits and two RBIs.
Stewart had two hits and two RBIs, Zolt had a home run and three RBIs, Zeb Maxwell had two hits, and Jimmy Cipriani had a hit and a walk.
Lott was Callaway’s starting pitcher, and he threw 5 1/3 innings and gave up seven runs on 10 hits.
Austin Barber and Dawson Wright finished things off on the mound for Callaway.
