Leroy whallops ACA Patriots to move on
By Chris Sherman SA Sports Writer

The top-ranked Leroy Bears took two of three games from No. 3 American Christian this past weekend to advance to the state championship series against Mars Hill Bible. In the first game, Leroy fell behind 3-0 early with ace Clint Moseley on the hill for the Bears. Moseley helped himself out at the plate, when he hit a pop up to score Chris Weaver from third to cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the third inning. Later on in the inning, Phillip Ervin scored on a passed ball to pull the Bears' to within 3-2.

After holding the Patriots to a three-and-out, the Bears went to work again in the top of the fourth when Cliff Covington got things started with a one out walk. Chris Weaver followed with another walk and Will Blount loaded the bases after reaching first on a bunt single. Ervin didn't disapoint, blasting the first pitch over the left field wall for a game-changing grand slam that put Leroy up 6-3. The Bears never trailed again.

"It was a great baseball game," Leroy Coach Danny Powell said. "We had a big inning in the fourth when Ervin hit the grand slam. It was a big turnaround for us. Moseley wasn't his sharpest on the mound but he showed guts and picked up the win. It was a great win."

Anthony Woods hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to get one of the runs back but Moseley struck out two batters with the bases loaded to end the inning with the Bears clinging to a 6-4 lead. Aerik Davis led off the top of the fifth with a RBI double followed by walks to Blount and Weaver to load the bases for Grant Brown. Brown delivered with a two-run single to push the Bears' lead back to four runs at 8- 4. Moseley escaped a jam in the bottom of the sixth and gave way to Brandon Jones in the seventh with two runners on and Leroy leading 8-7. Jones retired the final two outs to give the Bears the win and pick up the save. Moseley went 6 1/3 innings and struck out four in the win. Ervin led Leroy at the plate going 3-4 with a grand slam, four RBI and two runs scored; Brown was 2-3 with two RBI; and Stephen Scoggins and Davis added one hit each.

Freshman sensation Dylan Williams shut the Bears down in game two going the distance while allowing only three hits and striking out seven to improve to 12-0 on the year. Ervin took the loss on the mound and was 1-2 at the plate. Brown added a double and Scoggins had a single to round out Leroy's top hitters.

The Bears erupted for five in the second and nine in the fifth to wallop the Patriots 20-5 in the rubber game. Weaver had a tworun single in the fourth and A.J. Snow put the game away at 11-4 in the sixth with a two-run homer. Scoggins led Leroy at the plate going 4-5 with two RBI; Snow was 3-4 with three RBI; Moseley was 3-5 with a RBI; Weaver was 2-3 with four RBI; Ervin 2-4 with three RBI; and Brown 2-5 with a RBI to lead Leroy at the plate. Jones, Johnathon Woodyard and Blount added singles.

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