Staring their first loss of the season straight in the face in game two Friday night at home against American Christian, the W.S. Neal Eagle baseball team held on to sweep the Patriots and move on the semifinals of the class 3A state baseball playoffs this week.
W.S. Neal improved to 29-0 in the quarterfinals Friday night after sweeping ACA 7-1 and 4-3.
“It was a good series,” W.S. Neal head coach Coy Campbell said. “I thought both teams played well. We were able to do some things and get some runs across early. That allowed us to kind of change our pitching up a little than we have done in the past. It worked out all right. All three guys threw well…Brian Settle, Keith Bradley and Tyler Joyner. It also helps when you come out swinging the way we did and put one or two runs on the board. That kind of sets the tone for the game. I felt when we did that we felt pretty good after that inning and I don’t think they ever really threatened after that.”
Campbell said game two was an exciting game.
“It was exciting and probably a lot more exciting than people wanted,” he said. “Like I said before, if they are still playing, they have to be pretty good. Very easily, American Christian could have laid down when they were down 4-0 in the seventh inning. You have to give them credit. They did what they needed to do and gave themselves a chance to win. On the other hand, we did what we needed to do to secure the win. We made a couple of plays on defense that we have been making all year.”
While the Eagles of East Brewton are in the semifinals for the first time since 1990, it comes against the 2012 state baseball champions—the Trinity Wildcats.
“They are the defending state champs,” he said. “They have some good arms. They have a senior ball club kind of like us. I think they have swept the first three rounds just like us. They have our respect and at the same time, I think we have got theirs too. I am looking forward to the series. I think it is going to be a great series. They always say you have to beat the best to be the best so what better way for us to get to the state championship game than to beat the defending state champs.”
Campbell said it would be nice if his team can beat Trinity this week in Montgomery and be able to head back to area for the state finals next week.
“It is funny because we go to the first round and then win the second and then the third,” he said. “It is different with this group of kids. It is just two more wins and we get one step closer to that goal we set. It is hard to believe but we talked about this day one that this was our ultimate goal.
“We said we wanted to take it one game at a time and that is just what we have done. I feel like we are going to be very focused when we get there. We have told the kids that if someone beats us twice we are going to go out there and shake their hands. I feel like if we play, I still like our chances.
“It will be very nice to have back-to-back trips to Montgomery.”
Game time is set for 1 and 3:30 p.m. Friday in Montgomery with a noon game set for Saturday if needed.