Murphy – After struggling early on defense in the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A playoffs, Murphy baseball looked like it turned the corner against Bishop McGuinness.
The Bulldogs had flipped a 6-4 deficit heading into the inning into an 11-6 lead, then got the first two outs in the top of the sixth. After that, the bottom fell out. Murphy couldn’t make plays defensively, allowing the Villains to score four in the top of the sixth, then seven more in the top of the seventh to end the Bulldogs’ season with a 17-11 loss.
Bishop McGuinness would fall to No. 2 seed Uwharrie Charter (16-10 overall) 10-4 in the second round on Friday.
“We made mistakes in the field,” Murphy head coach Tyler Edwards said. “There ain’t any other way to put it.”
After a 5-4 win over Hayesville on April 25 to move into sole possession of first place in the Smoky Mountain Conference, Murphy played itself out of conference title contention with a loss to the Yellow Jackets on April 28, then two more losses to Swain County the following week. Edwards wasn’t sure his team would get a home playoff game, but they were able to get the No. 15 seed and stay in Murphy despite the late-season slide.
Following some early game mistakes that allowed Bishop McGuinness (11-10) to score four runs in the first inning, Murphy (10-9) settled in. The Bulldogs would cut the lead to 6-4, then exploded for seven runs in the fifth by taking good at-bats and taking advantage of Villains mistakes. Murphy’s 11 runs were more than the eight runs they scored in the previous three games combined.
“Offensively, one through nine, we put the bat on it,” Edwards said. “That one inning, we batted all the way around. Whole game we put the bat on it, just didn’t do enough.”
Robert Turner, who relieved Cole Laney in the top of the third, retired both West Graham and Ryan Porter in the top of the sixth before things unraveled. Xander Loncar would reach on an infield single, then Will Valente singled and Tommy Mattox reached on a fielder’s choice.
Ben Williams followed with a ground ball to shortstop, but the throw to first went high and two runs scored. Maddox would later score on a wild pitch, and Williams would score when Tyler Pesavneto reached on an error.
Murphy went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning, and Bishop McGuinness went right back to work. Graham reached on yet another error, and Porter crushed a go-ahead two run home run over the left-field fence.
The Villains would add five more runs, with only one coming on a hit. Murphy would commit nine errors in the game and walk six batters. Only three of Bishop McGuinness’s runs were earned.
It was a transitional season for Murphy, with Edwards taking over as a head coach and Murphy returning just four major contributors from last year. One of them was senior Will Carringer, who missed the whole season after
suffering a knee injury during basketball season. So while the Bulldogs were a veteran team with 10 seniors, it was not a very experienced group.
That didn’t stop Murphy from being in the conference championship chase heading into the final week of the regular season. The seniors set the tone of showing up to practice willing to work hard, which will make this group hard to let go of for Edwards.
“This group of kids, I love every single one of them,” Edwards said. “I’ll do anything for them. I couldn’t ask for a better first group at Murphy coaching baseball.”