Wildcats sweep Saraland in doubleheader

The Enterprise baseball team swept Saraland in an April 8 doubleheader.

"I thought we played offensively, played defensively and pitched about as well as we had all year long as far as being able to put all three phases of the game together," EHS baseball coach J.D. Pruitt said. "I thought our guys were very aggressive at the plate. They hunted pitches well today. Hopefully, that will give them confidence going forward that with that type of approach we’ll allow ourselves to have some success offensively."

After an 11-1 victory in the first game, the Wildcats scored six times in the first inning on their way to an 8-3 win in the second game.

"Any time you can go out…put up a zero, come back in and add runs, especially a big inning like that, that changes the opposing team’s whole entire offensive philosophy as far as how they want to try to attack the game," Pruitt said. "There is no more bunting and trying to do all of that. You’ve got to kind of swing your way back into the game. I think we were able to kind of put them in a hole early. That kind of took them out of their philosophy and their plan going into the game."

Chance Warren doubled and came home on another double from Santi Garcia for a 1-0 EHS advantage.

Hunter Peacock brought Grant Thornton home with an RBI groundout after Thornton drew a walk earlier in the inning.

Garcia and Gage Anderson scored on passed balls for a 4-0 Wildcat lead.

Dyar Thompson hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Trey Simmons, and Tyler Byrd was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the sixth Enterprise run.

"It all went back to our approach at the plate and how aggressive we were," Pruitt said. "We were aggressive on the bases today. I thought our guys did a really good job running the bases today. We were able able to put a lot of phases of the game together as far as handling the bat and running the bases well. When we’re able to do that, we can put a lot of pressure on an opposing defense and an opposing pitcher. That’s what we were able to do."

Saraland scored on an error in the top of the second to cut its deficit to a 6-1 margin, but Enterprise got the run back in the next inning on a groundout by Thompson.

Garcia drove Warren in with a single in the fourth to give EHS an 8-1 lead, and Saraland scored its final two runs on a single in the seventh.

"We really didn’t have any bad at-bats," Pruitt said. "We had a lot of guys (who) put great at-bats together and battled with two strikes. In the first game, we didn’t have any strikeouts at all. That was huge. That was big. That was kind of how locked in our guys were today."

Cole Smith pitched five frames for the Cats and struck out five for the win.

Ryan Page threw two innings and struck out two.

Koty Fulton-Tice threw 4 2/3 innings in the first game, struck out six and allowed just two hits.

Peacock threw 1 1/3 innings and struck out one.

Both teams started slow in the game, but the Wildcats broke through with a pair of runs in the third.

Warren scored when Grant Thornton grounded into a fielder's choice, and Thornton was doubled home by Garcia.

Simmons led off the Enterprise fourth with a solo shot, and EHS led 4-0 when Mason Marsh scored on a groundout by Conner Couch. 

Peacock hit a two-run single in the fifth, and Couch drove Anderson in with a single for a 7-0 Enterprise lead.

Saraland scored on a passed ball in the sixth, but the Wildcats answered with four runs in the bottom of the sixth.

They scored twice on an error and twice when Robert Hutson and Thompson walked with the bases loaded to seal the win.

"This team was, I believe, the No. 8-ranked team in the state in (Class) 6A, and had just came off of a huge win last night against the No. 1 team in 7A, McGill-Toolen," Pruitt said. "They were riding high today as far as their confidence level. For us to be able to come out and put together two games like that against a really quality ball club, that speaks volumes of our (players) and how competitive we can be."

The victories against Saraland were two wins Pruitt hopes will instill confidence in the Wildcats during the rest of the season.

"I hope our (players) understand and see when we come in locked, loaded and ready, we can play with the upper echelon of teams here in the state," he said. "(I am) very proud of what our guys did today. Obviously, it’s just two games. We can’t sit here, mull over and be satisfied with where we’re at. We’ve got to continue to keep pressing forward."