Florence-Darlington Tech right fielder Devin Mitchell, right, is tagged out diving back into first base by Shelton State first baseman Brady Waugh, left.
The number nine team in the nation, Florence-Darlington Tech, got the best of six different Shelton State pitchers for nine hits, four walks and 11 runs scored in a commanding win over the 10th-ranked Shelton State Sunday. No, I'm not talking about in the ballgame. This was just in the sixth inning.
The Stingers of Florence, South Carolina rode an 11-run offensive outpouring in their 46-minute half-inning to a 16-4 six-inning mercy rule win in Sunday's morning contest at the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series.
The Stinger sent 16 batters to the plate in the sixth. All nine Stingers batters reached base in the inning, including four who reached base twice. Catcher Jackson Cionek and third baseman Patrick Evans each doubled twice in the frame; centerfielder Josh Campos recorded both a single and a triple. Curiously, none of the Stingers' 11 sixth-inning runs came via home run.
"The vibes in the dugout were pretty, pretty high," Campos said about his team's explosive inning. "Any time we score a lot of runs, the other team kind of gets down on themselves and I mean, you can never score enough runs in the World Series, the ball really flies here. I think we had a pretty good sixth."
Campos finished the game a double shy of the cycle, as he went 3-4 with the triple, a second-inning home run, four runs scored and three driven in.
The Stingers had lead off Sunday's contest with a three-run first inning and a two-run second to build themselves a steady lead, but the tenth-ranked Buccaneers had clawed back into the contest thanks to, among other contributions, a home run from centerfielder Pierce Dutton in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Stinger lead to 5-4. Momentum appeared to be squarely on the side of the home team Buccaneers as the game entered its late stages.
"It got a little tight. We felt like hey, we got to swing the momentum back to our dugout. Luckily for us, we got the leadoff hitter on (Tanner Beckley, via walk). Usually, when we get the leadoff hitter on, we have a good chance of scoring," Stingers head coach Preston McDonald said. "Obviously, we did a little bit more than that."
Five different Florence-Darlington batters recorded multi-hit days in the win. Thanks to his two-double sixth, Evans finished the day with a team-leading four hits in five at bats. The third baseman drove in four runs and scored twice in his own right on the day. Zack Hunt and Diego Garcia both contributed a pair of hits, alongside the aforementioned Campos and Cionek.
On the mound, Florence-Darlington needed just one pitcher to do their dirty work in the contest. Sophomore right-hander Mike Joyce allowed four runs on just five hits across a six-inning complete game. The Virginia Commonwealth commit struck out five on 104 pitches in the outing, which was unusually dominant for the hitter-friendly confined of Suplizio Field.
"Mike Joyce was phenomenal," McDonald said. "Any time you can come to Grand Junction and throw a complete game and only give up four runs, five hits, that's a heck of an outing."
The Stingers advanced to day four of the tournament with their dominant win. They will take on the winner of Monday morning's contest between nine seed Lake Land and eight seed Salt Lake.
With the loss, Shelton State will also move to Tuesday. They will face the loser of the aforementioned game between the Lakers and the Bruins.
SALT LAKE HANDLES FLORIDA SOUTHWESTERN IN LATE NIGHT AFFAIR
Under the light of the moon late Saturday evening, eight seed Salt Lake Community College dominated the three-seed Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers, 16-2.
From the outset of the contest, which began at 10:25 at night, the higher-seeded Buccaneers appeared sluggish and uninterested in competing at such a late hour. They managed only three hits on the contest, including two in the game's seventh and final frame.
Salt Lake scored three times each in the third and fourth innings to build a commanding lead, and seven times in the top half of the seventh to slam the door closed on the contest. Right fielder Hudson Manwaring lead the Bruins with four hits, including a double, and five runs driven in.
Former Montrose Red Hawk Gage Wareham made a pinch-hit appearance for the Bruins late in the game. Wareham drew a bases-loaded walk to give his team a 10-run advantage and put them into mercy rule territory.
Saturday's evening game, which was played in front of an announced attendance of 3,969, concluded at 1:10 a.m. Sunday morning.