Any win against a rival is meaningful, but Boerne High pitcher Jackson Grimes said Tuesday’s 7-2 victory by the Greyhounds over Champion at Charger Field is more than just another win.
“It’s a lot more special; we’ve been looking forward to this game since the beginning of the season,” he said. “I didn’t sleep (the night before) and I’m sure a lot of my teammates didn’t sleep either, but it felt good to come out of here with a win at their place.”
Boerne High improved to 6-2 in district (14-7 overall) and Champion slips to 4-2 in 26-5A (18-3-1 overall). The Greyhounds hosted Friday’s game to close out the series.
Champion had a fast start and knocked out 3 hits and scored 2 runs in its first at bat against Grimes. The Chargers used a double from Owen Kuhl, a bunt single from Cal Isley and an RBI single from Brody Bendele and were leading 2-0 but didn’t register a hit or a run after the first inning.
In fact, the Chargers only had two more base runners over the last six innings, and those were both walks as Grimes settled in.
“They came out knowing what they were looking for (in the first inning) and I just had to regroup and come out with a new approach and a new mindset,” Grimes said.
Champion’s 2-0 lead held until the fourth when the Greyhounds made their move. Grimes doubled to start the inning – his second of the game – and then a hit batter, walk, and three consecutive singles allowed Boerne to pull ahead 3-2.
It snowballed from there as the Hounds had all the momentum and scored a single run in the fourth and then pushed in 3 more in the sixth for the 7-2 lead.
BHS coach Geoff Curtin said his team kept grinding away and never stopped believing after falling behind early.
“We were scratching and clawing; that’s kind of the mantra of our team,” he said. “We just stayed in there and competed on every pitch.”
Champion coach Ben Woodchick gave credit to Grimes and the rest of the BHS defense for keeping them off the board after the first inning, but added that his team needs to be sharper, especially on defense.
“We have to play good baseball and put together our best product every night and we didn’t do that,” he said about his team that committed four errors. “We have to get back to carrying it through all seven innings. We have to clean some things up and quit making errors.”
Grimes went the distance to earn the win. He gave up 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and struck out 6 batters on 104 pitches.
Ethan Coleman started on the hill for the Chargers and went four innings. He gave up 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks and fanned 5.
Blake Ott, Parker Davis and Cal Isley all tossed as well as the Chargers used three pitchers in the last three innings. Davis and Isley both struck out one batter each.
Grimes made it safely on base four times with two doubles and two walks, while Eli Srp finished with 3 singles and a run scored and EJ Goolsby crossed home plate twice.
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