Someone will win a state championship Saturday at Bethel Christian Academy, but it won’t be the Trojans.
Vandalia Christian School, the No. 1 team in the western bracket of the NCCSA state 2A playoffs, beat Bethel 11-3 Friday afternoon at Sutton Field.
The Trojans (13-8) were the No. 2 seed in the East region and hosted the state semifinals and finals for the second year in a row, but a disastrous first inning against the Vikings (17-3) set the tone and Bethel was never really close after staking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first evening.
Bethel, the visiting team despite playing at home due to the Vikings holding a higher seed, plated the game’s first run without ever hitting the ball out of the infield. A pair of walks and a fielder’s choice to second base by Hunter Truett drove home leadoff batter Tyler Antwine in the top of the first.
Bethel didn’t score again until the fifth inning. By that time, Vandalia led 8-1, including a four-run first inning powered by four consecutive singles in the frame.
“The last five games, we have really hit the ball well,” said Vandalia coach Luke Oates, whose team out-hit the Trojans 12-5. “We’ve been really good this year about scoring in the first inning.”
Vandalia, located in Greensboro and winners of 14 straight, were paced by designated hitter Hunter Miller, who went 4-for-4 with a pair of singles, an RBI double and a home run.
The two-run blast, the freshman slugger’s third of the year, in the fourth inning ricocheted hard off the top of the Trojans’ scoreboard above the 300-foot sign in left field.
“He has a lot of power for being just a freshman,” Oates said.
While the Vikings were busy hitting everything thrown anywhere near the plate, the Trojans weren’t doing themselves any favors defensively, committing an uncharacteristic five errors which led to five unearned runs for starter Ben Potter, who surrendered eight runs on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings of work in a losing effort.
“We made too many mistakes today that we hadn’t been making all year,” Bethel coach Kenny Sutton said. “We also had some base-running mistakes, and we couldn’t get hits when we needed them.”
The Trojans left runners on base in every inning but the second, when they went down in order, and stranded 10 runners over the course of the game.
Only one Bethel player, second baseman Blake Batchelor, notched a multi-hit day, as the eighth-grader went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles.
Vandalia’s Jordan Mitchell scattered five hits and walked eight in what Sutton called an “effectively wild” outing to earn the win.
Vandalia will play Wilson Christian Academy for a state championship at 1 p.m. Bethel will play in the consolation game at 10 a.m. against Faith of Ramseur, the No. 2 team in the West.
Bethel Christian Academy 100 010 1—3 5 5
Vandalia Christian School 401 303 x—11 12 1
Potter, Truett (4) and Daugherty; Mitchell, Lente (7) and Hobbs. W—Mitchell. L—Potter.