Covenant baseball coach Doug Smethurst called it a microcosm of his team’s season so far — in the VIC semifinals against Miller, the Eagles got a couple of timely hits, played great defense and witnessed outstanding pitching. A pair of RBI doubles from sophomore Brady Doyle, a diving catch in centerfield from Sam Patterson and seven shutout innings from starter Sean Rutherford was more than enough for the Eagles to advance to their second straight VIC title game as they shutdown the Mavericks 5-0.
“That was a great game for us,” Smethurst said. “Miller came in red hot and they’re a well coached team, but Sean was on today. He had been struggling a bit since spring break getting his slow stuff across the plate. He was in command from the begging today and looked like he was having fun out there.”
Coming off a tough outing against Woodberry Forest over the weekend, Rutherford shook it off and found his stuff right from the start. He did not give up a hit until the fifth inning and allowed just four base runners his first two times through Miller’s order. On the day he gave up only three hits and struck out seven batters.
“I finally got my curveball going where I want it to,” Rutherford said. “It felt great out there.”
Offensively, the Eagles got off to an early start. A single from leadoff hitter Jesse Getchel followed by a stolen base, wild pitch and then sacrifice fly from Patterson resulted in a 1-0 start. In the bottom of the second Covenant took a 4-0 lead. Chris Shifflett doubled and then took home on an error. A double from Doyle drove in Brian Pollard. Rutherford then provided himself some help with two outs with an RBI single.
Miller settled in over the next four innings and kept Covenant from completely pulling away. However, in the top of the sixth the home team tacked on another insurance run to make 5-0 thanks to a single from Ethan Taylor and another RBI double from Doyle.
“(On both hits) they got me off balance with a changeup, and thinking that’s coming I saw a fastball and just ripped it,” Doyle said.
While Taylor and Matt Day had a strong game as Covenant’s middle infield and turned a sharp looking double play, the defensive highlight of the day came from Patterson in the fourth. The Eagle’s junior centerfielder showcased his range on a hard hit ball to right-center when he tracked it down and finished it off with a diving grab.
Justin Cooper, Jarred Moscicki and Joaquin Litzenburger registered the three hits for Miller. Unfortunately for the Mavericks, Covenant never let any base runners reach third base, and only allowed one runner to reach second.
“Baseball is a funny game,” said Miller coach Sam Beale. “We hit the top of our game the other day, winning 20-0. Today, the wheels kind of fell off. We beat ourselves in the field and Rutherford pitched a heck of a game and we couldn’t hit him.”
Miller’s season is still well and alive though. The Mavericks came into Thursday game winners of their last seven contests. At 15-5, they will likely earn a home game on Tuesday in the VIS Division 3 state tournament.
Covenant (19-5) faces Liberty Christian today in Farmville at 4:30 p.m. for the VIC championship.
