Jags baseball heading back to postseason
MOUNTAIN BROOK -- Welcome back to the postseason, Jags.
The Spain Park High School baseball team rallied from a two-run deficit to beat Mountain Brook 3-2 on Friday night at Spartan Park. The victory secured Spain Park the second -- and final -- playoff spot from Class 7A, Area 6.
The Jags have not advanced past the regular season since 2014, when they won the 6A state title.
"I'm proud of this team. We've not been in the playoffs the last two years, and that's not because we haven't had good teams," Spain Park head coach Will Smith said. "We've had some good teams."
This one broke through. Justin McClure, a senior, is a big reason why.
The efficient right-hander hurled a 78-pitch complete game and held Mountain Brook in check for six of seven innings. His only hiccup came in the bottom of the third.
Mountain Brook's Sam Jeffcoat laced an RBI double to left-center field that scored teammate Chandler Cox. Jeffcoat then touched home plate on the following at-bat, when Clay Stearns pinged an RBI single to center.
That was all the Spartans could muster. McClure settled down over the final four frames and faced fewer than four batters each inning. Twice he retired the side.
"My team got a few runs for me in the fourth and fifth," McClure said, "and I just knew I had to buckle down and give it everything I had."
He did, but not only on the mound.
McClure helped dig his team out of the 2-0 hole by generating multiple runs at the plate. He connected on an RBI infield single in the fourth, and his hustle on a routine ground ball in the fifth contributed to a Mountain Brook fielding error that allowed the go-ahead run to score.
"I just hit it, and I was trying to bust it out of the box to try to get there," McClure said.
Michael Purser's sacrifice fly on the previous fifth-inning at-bat had tied the game at 2-2. Purser and McClure are two of 13 Spain Park seniors who have never played in the postseason.
Until now.
"Up and down the lineup they're all great kids," Smith said. "I'm just thankful that they'll get to experience that as well."
Spain Park (22-14, 4-2 Area 6) positioned itself for Friday's season-extending triumph by defeating Mountain Brook (17-14, 2-4) on Thursday, 8-2. The Jags' Will Battersby pitched a complete game and drove in two runs in the victory. McClure led the way at the plate with three RBIs.
Spain Park and Mountain Brook had entered the best-of-three series gridlocked at second place in the area with records of 2-2. Both swept Huffman and got swept by Oak Mountain.
Two teams from each area advance to the playoffs, which consists of four rounds. Oak Mountain (29-8, 6-0) had already locked down the top spot.
"I told the kids at the beginning of the week: We're in a five-round playoff," Smith said.
His Jags passed the first test. Grissom is up next.
Spain Park will travel to Huntsville next Friday for its best-of-three series against 7A No. 9 Virgil I. Grissom High School in the first round of the 7A state playoffs. The triumphant squad will face the winner of Oak Mountain versus Huntsville in the second round.
Advancing will require excellence. The Jags have taken the first step.
"It's a great program, great school, with great guys on the team," McClure said. "It means everything as a senior."