Pioneers rout #1 CVCC in World Series

Chattahoochee Valley's center fielder missed a two-out fly ball in the second inning Tuesday, allowing the first two runs to score for Spartanburg Methodist, and then the floodgates opened.

The Pioneers scored nine times in that frame, eight in the next and crushed the top-ranked team in the country, 18-3, in a Junior College World Series baseball elimination game shortened to five innings at Suplizio Field because of the mercy rule.

SMC stayed alive and will play 5 p.m. (Eastern) Wednesday against Blinn (Texas), which lost to Miami (Fla.) Dade.

The fifth-ranked Pioneers (47-17) sent 25 batters to the plate in those two innings alone and shocked the Pirates (47-13), who made four errors in the second, finished with six and will head back to Phenix City, Ala., in the most disappointing way imaginable.

"Sometimes when stuff like that starts, you can't stop it," SMC head coach Tim Wallace said. "I don't know that they could've stopped us today after we got it going. It was fun to watch."

Despite only four turns at bat, SMC had 16 hits and its second-highest run total of the season. The Pioneers beat Lenoir Community College, 23-8, in their third game, way back on Feb. 8. In this one, the top seven of the batting order went 15-for-23 (.652) with 14 runs scored and 12 driven in. The team had eight hits in the third inning.

"It was unreal," said SMC first baseman and clean-up batter Collin Steagall, who hit his team-leading 11th home run of the season. 

Steagall and Jordan Garrett from Chesnee had back-to-back homers in that fateful second inning when SMC started pouring it on.

"This team has to take advantage of every extra opportunity we get," Wallace said. "I don't know that we've ever taken advantage more than we did today."

Garrett finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs; Steagall was 2-for-4 as he added a double; Zack Shields had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI; Thatcher Coleman had two hits and drove in two; Tyler Lancaster also had two hits; Brandon Burris was officially 1-for-2, scored twice and stole three bases; and Wes Rogers went a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBIs to make him 5-for-7 in the World Series.

"That was just a good team win. Everyone did their part," Rogers said. "We did what we should have been doing all along. If we can keep doing that for the rest of the tournament, we should have a really good time."

SMC dropped into the losers' bracket Monday with an 8-3 loss against Miami Dade. The Pioneers fell behind, 2-0, in the top of the first inning against Chattahoochee Valley. But that sure didn't hold up long.

"We loved it, especially after we struggled just to get three runs (Monday)," Steagall said. "We were feeling it today. Everything their pitchers were throwing, we were seeing. We hit the ball great. Hitting was contagious today."

Garrett, who is second on the team with six homers, said he brought up the subject of hitting them back-to-back with Steagall during pregame warm-ups.

"I told him before the game that it would be nice if we did that for the first time all season," Garrett said. "And, sure enough, we did it."

SMC is making its third straight trip to the World Series and ninth overall, seventh under Wallace since 2001. Before last season, the Pioneers had never been twice in a row.

"This felt good," Garrett said. "It was a disappointing game (Monday). We knew we were a lot better team than we showed. We definitely don't want to go home yet. In pregame, we brought the whole team together and said, 'Let's not end it here.' "

All that was plenty of support for SMC starting pitcher Kyle Halbohn, whose biggest problem was trying to stay loose in the bullpen as the Pioneers kept batting around. Halbohn gave up only two hits, both were homers, but they didn't matter much. He struck out four.

"Momentum is a big key in this tournament," Rogers said. "Hopefully, we can take this into the next game."