Edgewood baseball clinches area title

Edgewood Academy’s baseball program is state tournament bound.

The Wildcats clinched their area Thursday, defeating Hooper Academy 9-7 in game one of an area double header to secure the crown before run-ruling the Colts 11-1 in game two.

“It feels really good,” Edgewood head coach Justin Jones said. “Especially for baseball and softball to do it on the same day. Getting a first-round bye is gonna be big. Looks like we’ll end up hosting the second round, so it gives us a little extra time to rest some bodies, get some people back healthy.”

Drez Crawford and Conner Bailey led the way at the dish for Edgewood in the clinching game, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and 3-for-4 with three RBIs, respectively. 

Alex Johnson started the game pitching for Edgewood and picked up a win, while Conner Bailey threw the final two innings for a save.

“Our bats turned it on,” Jones said. “Got some key plays from some guys, and we’re just glad we came out on top.

The biggest inning offensively for the Wildcats was the second, in which Bailey batted in three runs with one swing on a bases-loaded double. Johnson followed with a double of his own to put Edgewood ahead 5-0.

When it was cut back to 5-3, Crawford blasted a home run over the left-field fence and singled home a run two innings later to help push the advantage out to 9-3.

Johnson started the contest by striking out each of the first seven batters he faced, mostly utilizing a fastball that Hooper’s hitters often swung late on.

Even though he gave up three runs, the Colts could only record two hits against him in total. But in the fourth inning he issued three walks and allowed Hooper to cut the Wildcats’ 5-0 lead to 5-3.

Bailey entered the seventh inning with a 9-5 lead, and after surrendering two singles and a walk to bring the tying run to the plate in a 9-7 game, he notched a ground out to close out the Edgewood victory.

“Overall we pitched pretty decent,” Jones said. “Later in the game we let some walks get to us, which is something I’ve been kind of harping on with everybody. With our pitching staff, if we just get up there and throw strikes people have a hard time hitting it.”

Despite having already clinched their playoff bye, Edgewood cruised through game two 11-1 in five innings off the back of eight separate RBI base hits. A Hunter Reaves double sealed the win.