The Battling Bishops' baseball team brings home another state championship trophy!
A walk-off walk.
It was the difference in the thrill of victory for the Bishop England baseball team, and the agony of defeat for its counterpart, Crescent, in the deciding third game of the Class AAA State Championship Series, which was contested Saturday at Lexington High School.
In a series that produced just about every twist and turn imaginable, the Bishops won 4-3, when in the bottom of the seventh inning, Chris Dengler was intentionally walked with one out to load the bases. Crescent pitcher Derek Drummond got out No. 2 on a pop up, but walked Geoffrey Gilbert on a 3-2 pitch to force in the deciding run.
“I am just glad Geoff didn’t swing,” Bishop coach Mike Darnell said. “I can honestly say that I have never been a part of a walk-off walk.”
But Darnell has been part of a state championship team, plenty of them. Saturday’s victory gave the Bishops their third straight title and 10th in the program’s prestigious history. Six of those titles have come during Darnell’s tenure.
It was an interesting series to say the least. The Bishops had to rally for the victory in Game 1, and Crescent led the entire way in Game 2 as the Tigers handed Gilbert his first career pitching loss against a team from the Palmetto State. But don’t blame the Game 2 loss solely on Gilbert. His defense committed three errors in the first inning of Game 2 and the Bishops couldn’t come back.
In Game 3, the Bishops were down in the sixth inning until Gilbert belted an RBI double to cut the deficit to 3-2. A balk brought in the tying run in the sixth.
Gilbert’s bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh sent Bishops’ fans home happy as the Bishops used their trademark “small ball” to perfection. Gilbert, the third pitcher of the day for the Bishops, was credited with the win.
“I think we were outplayed for the majority of (the) three games,” Darnell said. “We trailed for 17 of 21 innings, were tied for two innings, and ahead for two innings. The biggest concern was, ‘Could we play well enough to win?’ I don’t think the fact that Geoff didn’t pitch well in Game 2 concerned any of us. We just had to figure out a strategy and go with it. There is a ton of trust in this program, from coaches to players and players to coaches. We believe in each other and trust in the guys next to us.”
The Bishops have won three straight titles, and every team has had its own personality.
“This is really more like the team in 2017 when we had a few guys who people knew and a bunch of role players who grew up as the season progressed,” Darnell said. “The 2017 team was really a year ahead of schedule and 2018 was a team with all of the pressure to win everything. This team had the expectation of a team who just won a title, but to everyone who knows the program those expectations were not realistic. For us to win the title this year says a ton about the guys on our team. It says just as much about all of the players who have played here in the past and the program they have created.”