South Point celebrates Zach Horne's fourth-inning grand slam.
By Brittany Randolph/The Star
Raiders blast Chargers, earn share of Big South title
BOILING SPRINGS - Zach Horne and the South Point baseball team brought their "A" game to Crest in a key Big South 3A/4A Conference finale.
The Chargers failed to answer the Red Raiders' early momentum and the visitors came away with a convincing 11-1 victory in six innings.
South Point (15-7) and Forestview (17-6) tied at 9-3 for the top 3A spot and the overall conference title. On Thursday, the Red Raiders won a coin flip that gave them the right to choose either the No. 1 or No. 2 playoff seed. After the game, Raiders' coach Jason Lineberger stated his team will take the No. 1 spot, which will guarantee the Red Raiders three home games to start the playoffs.
South Point will open the playoffs Friday at home against the Mountain Athletic Conference No. 4 seed.
Horne, a left-hander committed to Belmont Abbey, struck out nine with one walk and kept Crest off-balance with his offspeed pitches. He yielded five hits and one earned run in six innings.
Horne helped his cause at the plate in the fourth inning with a grand slam to left centerfield off Chargers' sophomore starter Jacob Tisdale - giving South Point an 8-0 lead.
"He's (Horne) been a huge part of this. Since he's been a sophomore, every time he goes out to pitch we knew we have a chance to win," Lineberger said. "As good of a hitting team as Crest is, it makes his performance that much better."
Chris Lane and Weston Lawing slugged back-to-back home runs in the first to put the Raiders up 3-0. Two Crest errors and a misplayed flyball helped South Point push across three unearned runs in the top of the sixth against Crest reliever Jordan Robinson to make it 11-1.
Chris Harkey (3-for-4, 2B, run), Jordan Edgerton (3-for-4, 2 runs), Lane (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs) and Lawing (2-for-3, HR, RBI) had multi-hit games for South Point.
Crest tallied its lone run in the fourth as Jordan Harris singled to right to bring in Tyler Wray. Wray was running for Tisdale, who doubled to start the inning.
Caleb Clark, Julian Ridings and Kyle Kendrick posted one hit each for the Chargers.
Crest (14-7 overall) and East Gaston (14-8) finished with identical 7-5 marks in the league and those two will battle it out tonight at 7:30 at Ashbrook High to decide the top 4A state playoff spot from the conference. The loser will get the second playoff seed.
"They showed up and we didn't," Crest head coach Steven Hodge said. "I told them, ‘We need to forget about what happened tonight, and go out and try to get that No. 1 seed for the playoffs tomorrow.' "
