Published: May 17, 2008 12:06 am            

Bearcats play for state championship 5 p.m. today

MONTGOMERY — Bryan Bowen wished he had never said a word about home runs.

Before Cullman High’s baseball team headed to Montgomery for the AHSAA Class 5A state championship series, the Bearcats coach told someone his teams had not given up many homers at Paterson Field in past years.

Bowen may not be overly superstitious, but he won’t be saying anything else about home runs after Cullman’s 13-10 win over Charles Henderson in game one of a best-of-three series Friday.

Cullman may have won the opening game, but Charles Henderson proved it’s capable of hitting the long ball in a park where home runs don’t come easily.

Charles Henderson hit three home runs off Cullman pitching, and Jonathan Wade — who hit a two-run homer in the first inning — was only a few inches away from hitting the team’s fourth in the bottom of the sixth.

“I wish I hadn’t said anything now,” said Bowen, who has led the Bearcats to the state finals six times in the past seven years. “We’ve only gave up about one home run in this ballpark. But when the wind is blowing out and you leave pitches up, it’s perfect for hitting the long ball.”

Despite giving up three two-run homers, Cullman junior Drew Bryson recorded the win. He gave up seven earned runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. The left-hander struck out seven.

Austin Golden recorded the save for Cullman. He allowed one hit and struck out two while pitching a scoreless seventh inning.

Cullman staked Bryson to an early lead, rallying for five runs in the top of the first.

After Golden led off the game with a walk, Josh Bell and Matt Drake followed with a pair of singles. Facing a bases-loaded situation with no one out, Charles Henderson starter David Fleming hit senior Kyle Johnson with a pitch — pushing Golden across the plate.

Chase Mathis kept the rally alive, slapping a two-RBI double down the left-field line to give Cullman a three-run lead. The Bearcats extended their lead to five when Kyle Haga hit a two-RBI single into the left-center field gap.

“The first inning was big,” Cullman senior Matt Drake said. “Some of us have played down here before, but there’s a lot of guys on our team who haven’t. Taking an early lead helped take some of the pressure off us.”

After Wade hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first, Cullman struck back in the top of the second.

Drake led off the inning with a single, and Johnson followed with an RBI single that extended the Bearcats’ lead to 6-2.

Cullman rallied again in the top of the fourth. With Bell on second base, Charles Henderson chose to intentionally walk Drake. Johnson and Mathis followed with back-to-back RBI singles, giving the Bearcats a six-run lead.

Charles Henderson intentionally walked Drake twice, but Johnson and Mathis made the Trojans pay both times. The Cullman duo combined for seven hits and nine RBIs.

“I knew they had to throw me something to hit,” said Johnson, who went 4-for-4 with four RBIs. “They had put Matt on, so they had to throw me strikes. I knew that, so I just went to the plate looking for something to hit.”

Cullman may have had a six-run lead after three innings, but Charles Henderson wasn’t going away that easily. Logan Pierce hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, and he hit another two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth.

“I have to hand it to Charles Henderson,” Bowen said. “They’re a team that just wouldn’t go away. There was a lot of momentum swings in this game. We would battle for a few runs, and they would battle right back.”

Charles Henderson chose to pitch around Drake again in the sixth inning. But once again, Johnson and Mathis made the Trojans pay.

Johnson moved Drake to third with a single, and Mathis followed with an RBI single. Chris Fisher extended the lead to 11-6 with a two-RBI single.

Charles Henderson made things interesting in the bottom of the sixth, rallying for two runs off Bryson and Fisher. But after Cullman added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh, Golden shut the Trojans down to preserve the win.

By knocking off Charles Henderson Friday, Cullman is one win away from winning its second straight state championship. And even though the Bearcats are in the driver’s seat, the players aren’t taking anything for granted.

“We’re going to approach the next game the same way,” Drake said. “We’ve been in some tough games this year, so this is where that experience pays off. If we come out here and do what Coach Bowen tells us to do, we know that we’ll be fine.”

Game two of the state championship series will be played at Paterson Field today at 5 p.m. If Charles Henderson forces a third game, it will be played at 8 p.m.

        

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