CERRO GORDO – Senior John David White came on in relief to strike out three straight batters in the top of the seventh inning and then delivered the game-winning hit in the bottom of the seventh as the Vikings defeated the visiting St. Pauls Bulldogs 6-5 Tuesday to clinch the Southeastern 1A-2A Conference baseball championship.
The win gave West Columbus its second consecutive conference title as their season record moved to 21-2 including a 10-1 mark in conference.
White came on to relieve starter Daniel Britt in the seventh inning after St. Pauls scored two runs on four straight hits to tie the score at five. Britt had pitched a perfect game against the Bulldogs in their earlier conference meeting. With no outs and two Bulldog runners on base, White struck out three consecutive Bulldog hitters to end the threat.
In the bottom of the seventh Devon Brown led off with a walk and stole second. After the Vikings intentionally walked Ryan McCleney, White stepped to the plate and delivered a shot that cleared the leftfielder’s head and brought home Brown with the winning run.
Brown had led off the game for the Vikings with a home run as WCHS jumped to a 3-0 first-inning lead. Brown finished with three hits for the night.
St. Pauls tied the game in the third inning on a three-run homer by Trey Lowry, but West Columbus went ahead again with two runs in the fifth.
White and McCleney each had two hits for the Vikings and catcher Zack Andrews had a double.
“Our guys gutted it out tonight,” Coach Young said. “St. Pauls really hit the ball well but we stayed with it. I don’t think I’ve seen better relief pitching than what John David gave us tonight. It was clutch.”
West Columbus is scheduled to play West Bladen tonight at 7 in its final regular-season game.
| St. Pauls | 003 | 000 | 2 | - | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| W. Columbus | 300 | 020 | 1 | - | 6 | 10 | 3 |
Carter and Shaw; Britt, White (7) and Andrews.