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Covenant books trip to VIC finals

The way it came off the bat, it was hard to believe that it was going to be fair, much less leave the park. But Sam Patterson eyeballed his hit closely, and after a brief smile he rounded the base path to greet his teammates waiting for him at home.

“It was a fastball right down the pipe,” Patterson said of the pitch that would become his homerun. “When I hit it, I honestly thought it was foul and turned around ready to take the next pitch. But sure enough it went out. It wasn’t pretty but I’ll definitely take it.”

The fourth inning grand slam that slipped past the foul pole and left field fence was one of many big hits for Covenant, and with Lee Coppock dealing on the mound and his defense making plays behind him, the Eagles were able to roll past Hargrave Military Academy in the VIC semifinals, 9-1, and book a trip to Hampden-Sydney for the championship game.

“We were very opportunistic,” said Covenant coach Doug Smethurst. “That’s kind of been our M-O this season. We had good pitching around the plate and played solid defense.”

The offense struggled for the first two-and-a-half innings, but finally in the bottom of the third the Eagles offense went to work as Clark Crutchfield and Jesse Getchel each reached base on a bunt single and walk respectively. Then Sean Rutherford brought both of them home on a double.

“We had good baserunning early for our first four runs,” said Covenant coach Doug Smethurst. “We didn’t leave anybody out there that should have scored.”

Patterson added to the lead with a 2-out RBI single before working his way around the diamond and taking home on a wild pitch.

Coppock was in command on the mound as he surrendered just five total base runners on four hits and a walk while striking out six batters in six shutout innings to extend his scoreless streak to 11 innings.

“He’s really worked hard,” Smethurst said. “He’s got a lot of poise out there, he’s ‘Steady-Eddie.’ He shut (Hargrave) down last time and he did it again today.

Ethan Taylor came out in relief for Coppock in the top of the seventh. The junior found himself in a bit of a jam after a walk, single and a stolen base gave the Tigers two runners in scoring position. But Taylor worked through it and while Hargrave was able to avoid the shutout, there would be no late rally.

Rutherford finished the game 3 for 4 with two runs scored. Patterson was 2 for 3 with a five RBI day. Clark Crutchfield was 1 for 3 with an RBI.

The Eagles (18-3-1) head to Hampden-Sydney today for the VIC championship.

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