SPRING HILL – Tuesday night’s game couldn’t have started much worse for Jake Murray. The very first batter reached on the first of three throwing errors by Springstead’s senior shortstop.
Two of those miscues occurred in the opening frame, when visiting Nature Coast pushed across two runs. That made it all the more satisfying for Murray when his teammates mobbed him in the bottom of the seventh, his base hit pushing across the winning run in a 3-2 walk-off victory.
“I’m ecstatic, honestly. That was crazy. I kind of lost my voice a little bit,” Murray said. “I’m excited. It was a big win.
“My team definitely kept me up a lot. They were encouraging me and keeping me going. Baseball’s like that. You always got to bounce back and just keep playing your game. That’s what I was trying to do.”
For most of the way, the Eagles (17-6) hadn’t shown much life against the Sharks (18-4) and ace J.P. Gates. It was also Gates who started off the scoring with a run batted in on a single up the middle, driving in Zach Funkhouser, the leadoff man who benefitted from Murray’s initial error.
With two outs, Brandon Frangione worked a bases-loaded walk, and Gates had some breathing room before ever taking the mound.
Joey DelGatto scored off a double play grounder with the bases-loaded in the bottom of the second to cut the deficit in half, but Springstead couldn’t mount much of a rally against the hard-throwing lefty until the sixth.
A walk and a wild pitch put Stephen Bienstock on second, and with two away DelGatto grounded a single through the hole into right, tying the game.
“Just being patient with J.P. at the end. He’s a great pitcher,” Springstead head coach Shawn Laferty said. “Taking your pitches and being smart. If you get a walk, get a hit; it’s putting the ball in play on a kid like that.”
Gates allowed the two earned runs over six innings, giving up three hits and three walks with eight strikeouts. He was off the mound in the seventh, when an error put Dakota Blevens on second with one out.
A few batters later, Murray stepped into the box and ended up lining a two-out single into left field. Blevens raced around third and scored to send the home team into celebration.
“I wasn’t really sure I was going to get an at-bat that inning. I was kind of hesitant to get up,” Murray said. “But when I got up there I was thinking I was going to take first pitch to see one, see how he’s throwing. Then he left me a hanging curveball right on the outside corner. So I just sat back on it and went with it, and it just ended up landing in the right spot.”
“These games have ups and downs. You get a ton of emotions. Yeah, he had a rough start at it in the beginning, but he comes through with the clutch hit,” Laferty said. “I kind of knew he would if it came down to him. He’s one of those kids that just sits back on a ball like that and just drives it.
“That’s not surprising to me. He’s having one of those years. But to make the errors in the beginning and come back, that’s great for him. He’s a great kid.”
Dominic Marrone earned the win in relief, coming in to start the third and allowing just one baserunner on a single the rest of the way, striking out eight across five innings.
As for Murray, the leadoff man went 1-for-4 on the night. He leads the team in average (.360), runs scored (23), stolen bases (13) and on-base percentage (.448).
“We go as he goes,” Laferty said. “If he’s hitting good, we’re going to be tough. Bienstock, same way. He’s the type of leadoff hitter who’s got speed, too. As Murray goes and Bienstock goes, that’s how we’re going to go.”
“I’ve just been trying to get the ball in play, really,” Murray said. “I’ve been trying to be a leader as a senior. It’s my last year, I’ve been trying to make it count. Just trying to do my job, on the field and off the field. Just encourage my team.
“A lot of the time I know the pitchers, and in that case I go up there looking for a first-pitch fastball, honestly. After that, I just try to have a good confidence going up to the plate and know that I need to see some pitches for my team to get them on the right track.”
Next week the Eagles will enter the Class 6A, District 6 Tournament as the top seed, and expectations are understandably high for Murray and his teammates.
“We know we can crush it,” Murray said. “I’m hoping we’ll get out there and we’ll really just play as a team and we’ll do our jobs, and get the win. I know we can do well, so I’m really excited for it.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.