Cape Fear baseball walks off win against Gray's Creek to clinch outright United 8 title
VANDER, N.C. — Cape Fear's senior night will be one it won't forget for awhile.
With a 20-win season and outright conference title on the table, the Colts' baseball team found itself staring down to its last three outs after giving up a run in the top of the seventh.
But there was no quit in the Colts, who singled, reached on error, then lifted a sacrifice fly to tie it.
Freshman Brycen Talley's frozen rope single to center field brought in the winning run to give the Colts a 3-2 win.
Gray's Creek opened up the scoring in the top of the first with an RBI from Matthew Perez. The 1-0 lead lasted until the bottom of the fourth, when Landon Underwood drove in a run to make it 1-1.
A few bunts by the Bears (13-8, 9-5) put pressure on Cape Fear's defense and allowed runners to move around to second and third. An infield grounder to first by Mason Barnes scored Jackson Karcher (3-for-3) as the throw home was too low to cleanly handle.
Gray's Creek had a 2-1 lead and Cape Fear's four errors played no small part.
However, in the bottom of the seventh, Underwood's leadoff single got the Colts on base. Next, Caden Jeffrey's bunt was fielded cleanly but the throw hit the runner's back, putting runners on first and third.
A sac fly by Jackson Rainey brought in Underwood (2-for-3). A sac bunt moved Jeffrey to second.
With two outs, pinch runner Ethan Cobb entered for Jeffrey. Running on contact, Cobb had a full head of speed when he left on Talley's game-winning single to the outfield and scored before the throw.
The Colts entered the week ranked fifth in the 910 area code.
In total, there was just one extra-base hit for either side all game. Gray's Creek pitchers held Cape Fear to just four hits while Cape Fear starter Jeffrey struck out eight and allowed four hits in six innings on no earned runs.
Ethan Plesser picked up the win for the Colts, facing six batters in the top of the seventh and striking out one with no earned runs.
