Polk County did the proverbial victory snatch from the jaws of defeat Wednesday afternoon – then still saw the win slip away an inning later.
The Wolverines forced extra innings with a three-run seventh inning, but Asheville Christian Academy answered with three runs in the top of the eighth to take a 9-6 win in a non-conference game at Polk County.
Trailing 6-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Wolverines came to life. Hits by Dequan Gary, Morgan Groves, Bryce Martin and Mark Mazzill, plus Tyler Campbell being hit by a pitch, fueled a comeback that cut ACA’s lead to 6-5 and loaded the bases with no outs. J.D. Edwards followed with a screaming line drive to center field that, unfortunately for Polk, found an ACA outfielder for the first out. Konner Scruggs then smacked a line drive up the middle that ACA’s pitcher managed to knock down and, while Martin scored the tying run, nipped Scruggs at first for the second out.
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With an injury to Daniel Painter (status unknown) changing Polk’s pitching plans for the week, Wolverine head coach Ty Stott decided at that point to try to end the game in regulation and waved Mazzilli around third and toward home. The Lions, though, responded and nailed Mazzilli at the plate for the final out, keeping the score at 6-6.
ACA racked up its three runs in the top of the eighth and survived one last Wolverine rally in the bottom of the inning, with Gary and Groves each hit by a pitch with two outs, then advancing a base on a wild pitch. But the Lions got the final out to end the game and drop Polk County to 4-3 on the season.
“We’ve played in a funk the last two games,” Stott said. “We came out with a win at Mountain Heritage, at least. I don’t know why we’ve started dropping fly balls, we ran the bases terrible.
“We didn’t have our pitching lined up today like we wanted. But the bottom line is, we have to be ready when our pitching isn’t lined up to still go out and do our jobs.”
The Wolverines grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first as Martin walked and stole second, scored when Mazzilli singled, who then stole second and eventually came around to score as Edwards singled and Konner Scruggs doubled. Those two runs were good for the lead until the fourth, when ACA pushed across three runs to take a 4-2 advantage. The Lions kept the Wolverines at bay until the sixth, when Noah Howell’s double cut the deficit to 6-3.
Polk County steps back into Western Highlands Conference play on Friday, hosting Mitchell.
