PEARL — Defending Class 1A state champion Resurrection won its 18th straight game Tuesday afternoon, leaving the Eagles one win away from capturing back-to-back titles for the first time in school history.
But the latest win, in game one of the Class 1A state championship series, was the hardest one to date.
Resurrection rallied back from two different deficits, capping the comeback off with a dramatic three-run top of the seventh inning and in the process pulled out an almost inexplicable 8-7 win at Trustmark Park.
The win puts the Eagles from Pascagoula up 1-0 in the best-of-three series against the Eagles from West Myrtle, and RCS can take home its second state title in just over a year with a win in game two Thursday. Resurrection is now 29-5 overall, and West Union stands 28-5.
Resurrection scored seven runs in the final three innings to pull out the win after trailing 5-1 in the fourth frame.
“That was a pretty wild one,” RCS first-year head coach Aron Frederic said, after the exciting finish. “I’m just so proud of our guys, I mean what a gritty group of players we have. It was a back-and-forth game and we found a way to come out on top. We showed how competitive we are when it mattered the most.”
Resurrection trailed 5-1 after three frames, and it didn’t look particularly good for the Jackson County squad as the Eagles had committed a pair of big errors in the field as well as getting three runners thrown out on the base paths in key scoring situations that resulted in the deficit.
But RCS starting pitcher Levi Foshee, who to that point had only gotten support in the form of an RBI-single by Luke Schnoor in the first inning, kept his team in the game and his teammates finally started to repay his loyalty starting in the top of the fifth inning.
Jesus San Miguel cracked a two-run single in that frame to cut the deficit to 5-3, and then Schnoor followed with a run-scoring double to make it 4-3.
In the sixth stanza, RCS knotted the game up briefly when Walker Frederic slapped an RBI-single to centerfield and suddenly it was 5-5. But the deadlock would be short-lived, however.
West Union bounced back immediately, as Cole Willard popped a two-out single to right field that plated a pair of runs putting his team back in front at 7-5 as the teams headed to the seventh inning.
But all was not lost for RSC.
Schnoor and Cole Tingle led the inning off both reaching base on singles, and Nicholas Watts loaded the bases when he was plunked by a pitch. Carter McCammon’s ground-out scored Schnoor to make it 7-6, and then Foshee used a sacrifice suicide squeeze bunt that eventually fell in front of the WUHS first baseman to knot things up again at 7-7 with two outs.
Jesus San Miguel then slapped a grounder toward third base, and the ball smothered the WUHS infielder allowing San Miguel to reach first safely on an error that plated Watts with the winning run.
Foshee, still in the game, then marched out to the hill and faced three West Union hitters, aided by an RCS double play, to shut the door.
“I had more adrenaline out there in the last inning than I ever had in my life,” the senior transfer Foshee, in his first season with RCS, said. “I just wanted to finish it off and get the win.”
Schnoor had three hits and drove in three runs to pace RCS at the plate, while Jesus San Miguel added a pair of hits and a pair of RBIs also to the winning seven-hit attack. Justin San Miguel drew four walks in the game, as five different West Union pitchers allowed 10 total walks.
Foshee picked up the win with his complete game effort, allowing 10 hits and five earned runs.
Willard had a game-high four hits and drove in three runs in the loss for West Union.
Game time for game two Tuesday is also set for 1 p.m.
