Published Tuesday, April 22, 2008 5:35 PM
Updated Tuesday, April 22, 2008 5:36 PM

 

Rebuilding year comes to a close

A Patriot streak that spanned a decade was broken Thursday with a loss to Colleton County.

The Patriots’ baseball team had a chance to finish the season on a positive note, but came up short as the Cougars earned a 12-8 victory in North Charleston. A Fort win would have earned the Patriots a playoff birth. The loss means that for the first time since 1997, the year the Fort moved up to Class AAAA ball, the Patriots will not make the playoffs.

However, while the team’s performance dropped this season, it seems unlikely that a team with such a strong winning tradition is down for the count. Since coach Jack Radcliffe took over the baseball program in 1996, the varsity has posted 250 wins against 120 losses while producing 11 all-state players and 10 North/South participants. The Patriots won the 6-AAAA championship in 1998 and 2000, and the 8-AAAA championship in 2003, 2006 and 2007.

Radcliffe is disappointed in this year’s 6-12 record, but remains optimistic about the talent level at the school.

“This was a rebuilding year for us and I can’t remember ever having a younger team,” Radcliffe said. “We started three ninth-graders, five sophomores and only one senior. As these young players continue to develop, I think we should have a very strong and maybe even a dominating team for years to come.”

Thursday’s game was indicative of the Patriots’ season as the Fort had chances to put the game away, but didn’t do so. The Fort pulled out to an early 4-0 lead in the first four innings, but then struggled defensively later in the game.

The Patriots got on the board in the bottom of the first when freshman Alex Christmas hit his first of two doubles to plate freshman Ryan Villareal. Junior Joe Finnerty took the score to 3-0 in the second with the first of four homeruns in the game. Unfortunately for the Patriots, Finnerty’s blast, which drove in Ryan Hall, was the only Patriot homer. That same inning, Villareal plated Josh Orth with a double.

Colleton led off the fifth with singles by Brian Drew and Chris Carter. Then multi-sport star Zach Singleton stepped up for his first at bat and drove a 2-2 pitch over the center-field fence for a 4-3 score. Four batters later, Holden Crosby hit a two-run homer to give the Cougars the lead.

The Fort would come back to take the lead two different times. In the bottom of the frame, Orth doubled to drive in two runs for a 6-5 Patriot lead. The Fort was down 6-7 entering the bottom of the sixth, but rallied for another pair of runs and the lead. Christmas plated junior Chris Vaughn with a single and Hall drove him in with a double.

In the top of the seventh, Darryl White hit another Colleton homer to tie the game. In the top of the eighth, the Fort walked in two runs and gave up two more on a fielder’s choice and an error.

Christmas led all batters, going 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs and a run scored. Villareal and Finnerty were the only other batters with more than one hit. Colleton’s Gunner Bowen got the win on the mound.

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com.