WINNSBORO – The Fairfield Central Griffins could not have asked for a much better performance than they got on Tuesday night in their 16-0 rout of the Columbia Capitals. The Griffins’ bats put up eight runs in the first and eight more in the second to put the Caps away in three innings.
Starting pitcher Jacob McManus bewildered the Capitals, and he dealt his way to a no-hitter. McManus faced 10 batters in the game, struck out eight and was a late-game walk away from a perfect game.
Jalen Jackson gets the barrel of the bat on the incoming Capitals’ pitch. | DeAnna Robinson
“Our team is a whole different team when he is on the mound,” Griffins’ Head Coach Scotty Dean said. “I know he threw a lot strikes versus balls. 32 strikes, 21 balls, that’s about 60 percent. When he pitches and he’s on, we’re a pretty good baseball team.”
Chazzi Jones began the Griffins’ offensive bombardment with a lead-off single, and Montavious Thompson followed next with a double. Both runners came home to score on wild pitch from Capitals’ starters Charles Kirkpatrick. The Capitals surrendered five runs on wild pitches.
Fairfield scored seven runs and recorded six hits, two of which were extra base hits, before Columbia recorded their first out. Harvey Smith, Chris Simmons, McManus and Jones had RBIs in the first inning.
Another wild pitch led to the Griffins’ first run of the second inning, and they quickly plated two more runs via Taylor Truesdale and McManus RBIs. Thompson scored the Griffins’ 13th and 14th runs of the game with one of his two doubles.
An error and a Smith RBI-double gave the Griffins their 15th and 16th runs, enacting the 15-run mercy rule.
“We got three seniors that play and those guys are special players for our program, but I am thrilled about our young guys,” Dean said. “To look at them play, you wouldn’t know they’re freshmen and sophomores. This experience is going to work magic for us in the next few years.”
The Griffins make the short trip to Richard Winn on Thursday.
FCHS:8-8-X – 16
CHS:0-0-0 – 0
Pitching: FCHS- Jacob McManus (W) CG, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 8K. CHS- Charles Kirkpatrick (L), 1.2IP, 8H, 12R, 7ER, 3BB. Miguel Pringle, .2IP, 5H, 4R, 3ER, 1BB, 1K.
Hitting: 1B – Chazzi Jones, Harvey Smith, Jeffery Truesdale, Chris Simmons, Taylor Truesdale, Jacob McManus, Jalen Jackson (FCHS). 2B – Montavious Thompson (2), Harvey Smith, Chris Simmons, Taylor Truesdale, Jalen Jackson.