Grafton’s baseball team moved one win away from its second state-tournament berth in three seasons after holding on to beat Midlothian 6-4 in a 4A South Region quarterfinal at Grafton High on Monday.
The Clippers built a 4-0 lead after the first three innings, but Midlothian charged back to trim its deficit to one, 4-3, in the fifth.
In the bottom of the frame, though, Grafton put a two-spot on the board to go up 6-3. Midlothian got one back in the top of the sixth, but relief pitcher Ricks Dearing pitched a perfect seventh to close out the victory for the Clippers, who will host Kings Fork in Wednesday’s semifinals at 4:30 p.m. to decide a state-tournament berth.
Evan Sperling, who pitched a three-hitter to help Grafton beat Jamestown in last Friday’s Conference 19 championship, went 2-3 at the plate Monday with one RBI and two runs scored. P.J. Jackson and Zach Lechthaler also drove in two runs apiece.
Starting pitcher Gray Harris scattered 10 hits over five innings, but limited Midlothian to four runs while striking out five.
Grafton 6 Midlothian 4
Midlothian- ooo;211;0 – 4 10
Grafton- 112;020;x – 6 7
WP: Harris
LP: McCollum
Midlothian- Freedman 3-3 (2 runs, RBI), McCullough 2-3 (RBI)
Grafton- Sperling 2-3 (2 runs, RBI), Jackson 1-2 (3B, 2 RBI), Lechthaler 1-3 (2B, 2 RBI)
Jamestown Falls 8-2 at Hanover
Jamestown’s season ended with an 8-2 loss in Richmond against Hanover in the 4A South Region quarterfinals on Monday. We will add details to this post when they are reported.
