Evan McCarthy's grand slam lifts Saltillo past Neshoba in marathon 5A North Championship opener
PHILADELPHIA — Evan McCarthy has been seeing the baseball well as of late, and it certainly showed Friday.
McCarthy hit two home runs in extra innings, including the go-ahead grand slam in the 11th to lift Saltillo past Neshoba Central 6-3 in 11 innings in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 5A Baseball North State Championship on Friday night.
The game had a two-hour weather delay and didn’t start until 9 p.m.
Game 2 of the series is will be Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Saltillo.
“The first one, I’ve never really hit a ball that deep to right," McCarthy said. "The second one, I was just coming to the plate very confident. It all worked out in the end. Neshoba is one of the toughest teams I’ve faced in my high school career, and the next game will be a dog fight.”
McCarthy gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a RBI single to center.
The score stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh, when Neshoba's Bryceton Spencer scored on a fielder's choice with one out to tie the game 1-1.
McCarthy's first extra inning home run — a shot to right-center field — came in the 10th and put the Tigers ahead 2-1.
But the Rockets had an answer. Jordan Davis laced an RBI single to center field to tie it at 2-2 in the bottom of the inning and send the game to the 11th.
With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the 11th, McCarthy hit the go-ahead grand slam to left field to give Saltillo a 6-2 lead.
McCarthy ended up with four hits and six RBI’s to lead the Tigers (28-6) offensively.
Luke Wood also had four hits, while Kaden Martin got the win on the mound for Saltillo.
“Evan put two really good swings together and has been seeing the baseball really well over the last two weeks,” said Saltillo coach Eric Reynolds. “That was one of the best high school baseball games I’ve ever been apart of. Both teams fought to the end and unfortunately one of us had to lose. Game 2 later on will be the exact same.”
Reid Hall had two hits to lead Neshoba Central. Sanders Griffis took the loss in relief for the Rockets (27-5).
“We kept fighting and answering but we couldn’t get that big hit,” said Neshoba Central coach Jonathan Jones. “We made a couple mistakes there at the end and they got the big hit.”
