Jefferson Forest baseball defeats Northside to advance in Region III playoffs

By Chris Humphreys
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: May 28, 2008

FOREST — Jefferson Forest certainly made things a lot harder on itself than it needed to Tuesday in the Region III playoffs.

The Cavaliers committed eight errors that led to four unearned runs, but JF managed to pull out a dramatic 9-8 victory over visiting Northside in the bottom of the ninth to advance to Thursday’s Region III quarterfinals.

Jefferson Forest (18-4) rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the score at 8-8. Then in the ninth, Shane Timberlake smacked a two-out, bases-loaded high chopper over Northside’s drawn-in third baseman that plated Hunter Gordon with the winning run.

“We struggled,” Cavaliers coach Ryan Gilleland said. “It was probably the worst we’ve played defensively all year, but the kids never gave up and that’s the sign of a good team.”

The Cavaliers play Waynesboro at Amherst on Thursday at 5 p.m. The Vikings finish the season at 15-8.

“If we get a few things shored up I think we are going to be OK,” Gilleland said.

Jefferson Forest’s Tyler Brown led off the ninth with a single, but was thrown out attempting to steal second.

Gordon doubled down the left-field line and went to third on Josh Storm’s infield single.

Northside then intentionally walked Bobby Shelton and, with the speedy Timberlake at the plate, played its infield in.

Timberlake chopped a ball over the third baseman to score Gordon for the winning run.

JF’s four-run rally in the seventh started with a lead-off single by Dylon Higley and a double by Josh Huffman that scored Higley.

Matt Wallman was hit by pitch. Ragan Rudisill struck out, but Tyler Brown singled to load the bases and Gordon drew a walk to score Josh Storm, who was running for Huffman.

Bryan Sanderson then struck out with the bases loaded for the second out, but Bobby Shelton singled up the middle to score Wallman and Brown and tie the game.
Gordon was 2-for-4 with a triple, three RBIs, two runs scored and a walk.

He relieved starting pitcher Trevor Johnston with one out in the third and worked five innings. Gordon allowed three hits, two walks, no earned runs and struck out two.

Shelton picked up his third win of the season by working out of a one-out, two-on jam in the eighth and a scoreless ninth.

He allowed no hits, no runs, a walk and struck out three.

Shelton was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two walks. Though nothing was more important than his two-out, two-run single that tied the game in the bottom of the seventh.

“(Shelton is) swinging the bat and throwing the ball very well right now,” Gilleland said. “They even intentionally walked him in the last inning. He’s playing very well right now.”

Northside’s big inning came in the fourth when the Vikings scored six runs on four hits and two errors. Two of the runs were unearned.