Open Bible Warriors: back-to-back state champs

By Christian Malone

May 06, 2008 12:06 am

— The Open Bible Warriors swept the Killian Hills Cougars this weekend in Macon, 3-2 and 6-5, to win their second straight Georgia Christian Schools Association state baseball championship.
Micah Phillips’ walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of game 2 gave the Warriors the state championship, and provided a spectacular end to a memorable season.
“It was a lot of fun,” Open Bible head coach John Joye said. “We have a special group of boys here, and I’m so happy for them. Seeing these boys win it this year was really special.”
The Warriors swept a Killian Hills team that had not lost a game all season. Last year, Open Bible beat the Cougars in three games for the championship.
“They’ve lost four games in the last two years, and all of them were to us,” Joye said. “We’ve got some competitors on our team, and they knew they were facing a good team in Killian Hills.”
Micah Phillips was named MVP for the Warriors. The junior led Open Bible with three hits and three RBI, was the winning pitcher in game 1, and of course, had the title-winning home run. Jacob Gervacio batted .526 in the postseason to lead the Warriors.
Open Bible finished the season with an 18-5 record.
Open Bible fell behind 4-0 in the second game, as Killian took advantage of OBCS errors to score four unearned runs. But the Warriors rallied, scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth and three more in the sixth to tie the score.
In the bottom of the sixth, a fielder’s choice and two walks loaded the bases. Then Josh Edwards lined a two-out single, scoring Phillips and Elder. When the catcher tried to throw Edwards out at second, Andy Griffin raced home, making it 4-4.
The game went into extra innings. Killian scored a run in the ninth to take a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Jacob Gervacio led off with a single to left center field, bringing Micah Phillips to the plate.
After fouling off a couple of two-strike pitches, Phillips ripped into a pitch, and sent a two-run walk-off homer to deep left field to clinch the state championship for the Warriors.
“As soon as Micah hit it, there was no doubt. You knew it was gone,” Joye said. “He threw his hands up and just watched it.”
Zach Mize pitched seven innings for Open Bible, allowing only five hits and striking out eight. Paul Phillips pitched the final two innings for the Warriors.
“Our pitching was great,” Joye said. “Micah took a perfect game into the sixth in game 1. Then Zach pitched his heart out in the second game, but our defense gave up those runs. Still, he pitched well. Then we brought in Paul Phillips in the eighth, and he was phenomenal. That’s the best I’ve seen Paul pitch.”
In the first game, Micah Phillips was almost untouchable. He was perfect for the first five innings, before hitting a batter and surrendering a hit in the sixth. The junior went the distance, struck out eight, and only allowed one hit.
“Micah is a great baseball player,” Joye said. “He’s got a chance to play at the next level if he keeps getting better.”
In the top of the first, Gervacio singled to left, stole second, took third on a single by Stephen Mize and scored on a single by Paul Phillips to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth, Andy Griffin launched a solo home run to right center. The Warriors scored again in the top of the sixth, when Griffin’s triple scored Cory Elder, making it 3-0.
Killian scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth, but could do no more against Micah Phillips, who finished the season 7-1 overall with a 1.21 ERA.
Gervacio, Mize, Paul Phillips and Griffin led Open Bible with two hits each. Griffin had two RBIs.
“We’ve got some boys that can hit,” Joye said.
After they’d won the championship, Joye surprised his team with shirts recognizing their back-to-back state championships.
“Again, I’m so proud of these kids. This is just a super group of young men,” Joye said. “Seeing them win it was really special. I told them, ‘Don’t ever take the glory away from God. He’s really blessed us this season.’”
Joye also praised the fans’ support. A big crowd traveled from Valdosta to Macon to support the Warriors, making the atmosphere that much bigger.
Now that they have won two state titles in a row, Joye thinks his team has the nucleus to go for a third. Open Bible loses just three seniors.
“We’re only losing three seniors, so we’ll have a lot of players coming back,” Joye said. “Those three seniors are all key players, and they’re going to be hard to replace. But hopefully we can get some kids to transfer in and help us. If we can find some guys to replace those three, we’ll be real good next year.
“I hope we’re building a program here. I’d like to see us continue to win, and really establish a baseball tradition at Open Bible.”

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.