BASEBALL: Dublin can’t close out Jasper County in deciding game

Baseball is one of those sports where the difference in a game – or in this case a playoff series – is often one bounce of the ball. 

Saturday’s rubber game between Dublin and Jasper County hinged on a few of those at the end of throws to first base by either team. 

And it was a tough one for the Irish, for a potential third out of the final inning, that narrowly got away, allowing the Hurricanes to score the two runs that ultimately won them the series. 

Three quick outs in the bottom half clinched their 7-5 victory to advance in the GHSA state playoffs, and spoil Dublin’s hopes of doing so in fairly gut-wrenching fashion. 

The weekend’s shifting wind blew each direction in games of the Friday doubleheader decided by the same 4-1 final score. 

The Irish prevailed with it at their back in the opener, but found themselves running squarely against it as Jasper County split things up in game 2. 

There were gusts of confidence early Saturday for each team, with the Canes enjoying a friendly first inning to jump in front 4-0. But a perfect storm struck for Dublin in a five-run fourth that reclaimed the brief lead. 

Though the Hurricanes circled back to tie it in their next set of at-bats, the Irish handled the late-game pressure with poise until the seventh-inning setback, at the worst possible moment, took all the wind out of their sails. 

The Irish, with the bases clear, were an out from sending the game to the seventh, when they’d have a chance to win it. 

But Justin Crowder managed to work a walk and get his foot inside the door of opportunity. 

Mikey Harbin, next up, snatched a line drive up the third base line that fit inside just as narrow a sliver, past the diving Ryland Yates and into the corner. 

Crowder’s pinch runner, however, was late to break on contact, and wasn’t able to score from first, holding at third in a potential big break for Dublin if Morgan Davis – who’d used more than 100 pitches to battle his way in middle relief from the first inning – could bounce back and get the third out. 

It came down to another of the game’s several rollers to an exact perfect spot on the infield that was hit just softly enough enough by Jaxon Cohran to force the issue as Will Wallace hurried to field it and get off his best throw to first. 

Jeff Davis had made an expert pick at first on the same ball for a lead-saving out to end the fifth, just after Jasper County had scored to even the game on a one-out grounder with runners at the corners. 

This time, he couldn’t quite secure it, as the ball bounded a few feet past, and both men easily scored to suddenly put the Hurricanes ahead by two. 

Tal Duke came on to get a fly ball for the final out and hold the number there, but there was nothing doing in Dublin’s last chance at the plate, as a swinging strikeout, flyout and pop out to third brought the game to an end. 

Game 3 didn’t get off to an auspicious start as a walk-a-thon, along with two infield hits, helped Jasper County score its first four. 

The Irish had little consistent luck against Cohran on the mound until a fourth inning that felt like a gotta-have-it moment.

And they responded with a rally to turn the game completely around.  

Xavier Reese led off with a walk. Jeff Davis singled. Duke doubled to drive in one. A second run balked in before Wallace grounded home a third. Morgan Davis choked up on the bat and peppered a single to right, then scored as Lake reached on an error. Bryceton Evans finished the huge inning with an RBI single for the 5-4 lead. 

Jasper County’s tying run in the fifth was ultimately the product of a Breyland Beasley double, though Dublin denied it a run to go back in front in either the fifth or sixth, when the bases were loaded ahead of a two-out ground ball that Wallace converted into a force-out at second. 

Morgan’s two-out infield hit, and steal of second base, gave the Irish a surefire shot to re-take the lead in their half of the same inning. But Wailer Sands made a terrific running catch of Bennett Lake’s solidly-hit liner in the left center gap to rob him of an RBI.

Jeff hit his first career home run, a solo shot, in the fourth inning for one of four unanswered runs that built up Dublin’s early lead in the first of Friday’s twin bill. 

Reese held the Hurricanes to only four hits, and a single run in an attempted seventh-inning rally. The senior finished up the day just north of 90 pitches with a line of one strikeout, one walk and one hit batter. 

Reese also contributed two hits for an RBI to lead the way at the plate. In addition to the aforementioned homer, Lake, Evans and Morgan Davis had the rest of Dublin’s seven for the day. 

Evans and Reese drove home runs in Dublin’s two-run third to get an early foothold on the scoreboard. Morgan’s RBI added a run of insurance in the sixth. 

The Irish wouldn’t ultimately need it, though Jasper County did threaten in the top of the seventh as Kayson Hobbs provided some late life with a leadoff double. Owen Houston followed with a single to put men at the corners, but Crowder would ground into a double play that cleaned the bases – at the expense of a run Dublin could afford to give up – and put Jasper County back at square 1. 

Next batter Tyler Ripley flew out to Duke in right field to end it in the next at-bat. 

Game 2 followed a similar pattern, though favoring the other home team, as Jasper County scored once each in the first and second, then twice in the fourth. 

Dublin once again had the higher hit total, with five against the Hurricanes’ four, but couldn’t get anything going until its last shot. 

Wallace faded one into the right center gap for a leadoff hit, and Morgan Davis went to right with a single to score him, as the Irish laid the groundwork of a   comeback. Evans would add a hit, but Davis became out No. 2 as he was waved aggressively around third on the play, and thrown out at the plate. 

That, and a groundout by the next hitter, would spell the end of the night. 

Yates went five, struck out four and walked six with three hits allowed in the Dublin start. Freshman Brayden Moore handled business despite a couple of walks, a double play and a strikeout against one hit in the sixth to strand a couple, and keep the four-run gap where it was. 

The Irish round out their season – a third-straight to reach the postseason – at 20-11 (14-4 region 2-High A). 

Jasper County goes on the road to No. 2 seed Bremen in the second round.