Grafton’s baseball team sprayed hits all over the field in Friday’s 4A Conference 19 championship game; but, just as it has been all season, dominant starting pitching set the table for the Clippers’ 11th win in a row.
One day after seniors Gray Harris and P.J. Jackson combined to pitch a two-hit shutout against Smithfield in the 4A Conference 19 semifinals to help Grafton clinch a region tournament berth, junior ace Evan Sperling offered his own stellar pitching performance to lift the Clippers past Jamestown 7-1 for the inaugural conference title.
After giving up one run in the first inning, Sperling, a University of Virginia commit, settled down and was virtually unhittable the rest of the way. He needed 73 pitches to get through six innings during which he gave up three hits while striking out five.
Grafton’s hitters also hit the ball hard all afternoon, particularly Spencer Brown, who raked a RBI double in the second and drove in two more runs in the decisive sixth inning with a two-run home run to left-center field.
“Evan threw a lot of strikes and only gave up one walk; He was pretty dominant today,” Grafton Coach Matt Lewellen said after the game. “He and Gray both love to compete and love to win.”
Grafton’s starting pitching duo has been doing a lot of winning lately. Sperling improved to 8-1 on the season following Friday’s victory. Harris, who will likely take the mound in Grafton’s 4A South Region opener, owns a 7-1 record on the year.
The Eagles offense took advantage of a slow start from Sperling on Friday. The first pitch Sperling threw was belted to the fence in right-center field by Jamestown’s Evan Lowery for a leadoff double.
Lowery would later score after his older brother, Liam Lowery, reached with a two-out walk before breaking for second base. Liam successfully drew a throw to second from Grafton catcher Jordan Sprouse before stopping in the middle of the base path, which allowed Evan to sprint home from third to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Grafton answered right back, though, with two runs in the bottom of the first off Jamestown starter Corey Williams. After Ricks Dearing led off with a walk, back-to-back RBI base hits from Spencer Brown — who laced a double to the gap in left-center that seemingly hit the fence before Brown even got out of the batters’ box — and Gray Harris put the Clippers on top 2-1.
The one-run cushion was enough support for Sperling, who needed five pitches to get through the second inning, but the Clippers padded their lead with two more runs in the fourth.
Sprouse led off with a walk and, after moving to third on Sperling’s sacrifice fly, later scored on Zach Lechthaler’s single to left.
P.J. Jackson, who also reached with a walk, was held at third on Lechthalter’s hit but scored a few pitches later on a wild pitch to push Grafton’s lead to 4-1.
Sperling, meanwhile, continued to deal on the mound. He never matched the five-pitch inning he recorded in the second, but after the first inning, the Eagles put a runner in scoring position only once the rest of the way.
The Clippers would break the game open with four runs in the bottom of the sixth before Ricks Dearing came to pitch the final inning in relief.
Brown’s blast to left-center was the highlight of the inning, although Sprouse drove in a run with a base hit as well.
Despite the loss, Jamestown still advances to next week’s 4A South Region tournament but will open on the road. Grafton will host its opening-round matchup Monday.
Grafton 7 Jamestown 1
Jamestown- 100;000;0 – 1 4 0
Grafton- 200;203;x – 7 9 2
WP: Sperling (8-1)
LP: Williams
Jamestown- E. Lowery 1-3 (2B, run)
Grafton- Brown 2-3 (2B, HR, 3 RBI, 2 runs), Harris 3-4 (RBI, run), Sprouse 1-2 (2 BB, run, RBI)
