Wildcats defeat crosstown rivals

By Christian Malone

Sat, May 17 2008

— VALDOSTA — Valdosta High used a six-run third inning to defeat archrival Lowndes 6-1 Tuesday night at Noel George Field.
The Wildcats took advantage of three key Lowndes miscues in their big third inning, and got strong pitching from Kyle Rowe to win the game.
“Pitching and defense was the difference in the game, without a doubt,” Valdosta head coach Bart Shuman said.
Rowe (5-0) allowed one run, seven hits and only walked one. He hit three batters, but struck out five. He also defeated Lowndes last year on the same field.
“Give Kyle Rowe credit,” Shuman said. “He was around the strike zone, and our defense played well behind him.”
The win improved Valdosta’s record to 11-1, and 4-0 in Region 1-AAAAA. The Wildcats moved up to No. 3 in the Class AAAAA poll this week.
Tuesday’s game was scoreless for the first two innings. Valdosta put runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings, but Lowndes starter Matt McCall made a big pitch to get out of the inning each time.
Then in the third inning, Lowndes’ gloves betrayed them.
McCall retired two of the first three batters, and seemed on the verge of getting out of the inning when Valdosta’s Jamie Turner hit a ground ball to third base. But LHS third baseman Brent Strickland booted the ball, and Turner reached base safely. Earl Daniels followed with a single, loading the bases.
Then Chad Prain hit a ground ball into the hole. Trying to make a difficult play, Lowndes shortstop Parker Pridgen charged the ball, but the ball went under his glove and rolled away. Wesley Welch and Turner raced across home plate to score the first two runs of the game.
Valdosta’s Stuart Brooks lined a single up the middle, scoring Daniels. Then Harrison West hit a chopper that handcuffed second baseman Kevin McDowell. When McDowell could not field the ball cleanly, Prain scored. Brooks kept running, and crossed the plate, too, to make it 5-0 Wildcats.
Taylor Prain followed with a routine fly ball to right field. But right fielder Brandon Gilbert missed the ball, and it rolled to the fence, allowing West to score. When the dust settled, Valdosta had a 6-0 lead.
“We scored all six runs with two outs,” Shuman said. “They gave us a couple of extra outs, and we took advantage of them. That was the difference in the game.”
Those six unearned runs would be Valdosta’s only runs Tuesday. But thanks to Rowe’s pitching and flawless defense by the Wildcats, they would be more than enough.
“They outplayed us,” Lowndes head coach Danny Redshaw said. “They made the plays. We didn’t. That (killed us).”
Lowndes got on the board with a run in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Christian Glisson lined a single to right. Strickland was hit by a pitch, then Jake Harris reached on an infield single, loading the bases. Rowe got two strikes on McDowell, but came too far inside with a pitch, and hit the Vikings’ second baseman in the helmet. That forced in Glisson with a run.
McDowell laid on the ground for several minutes while Lowndes trainer Phillip Pieplow examined him. But he was OK, and stayed in the game.
With the bases still loaded, the Vikings could have gotten back into the game with a big hit. But Rowe made a big pitch, and got Josh Purvis to ground out to second to end the inning.
Lowndes (3-9, 0-3 region) would not get another runner into scoring position until the bottom of the seventh.
McCall and reliever Tyler Stalvey also shut out Valdosta the rest of the way. McCall allowed six hits and struck out two. None of his six runs were earned. Stalvey replaced him in the fifth, and allowed just one hit over the final three innings.
“Our pitching was good enough to win. McCall pitched like he was capable, Stalvey pitched like he was capable. Bottom line, we didn’t field it,” Redshaw said.
“Their guys threw well,” Shuman said. “Lowndes was right there going at us.”
At the plate, Daniels was 3-for-3 with a run for Valdosta. Chad Prain, who entered the game with a .643 batting average, went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Glisson was the only Viking with more than one hit, going 3-for-3.

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