Eagles rally to claim first round win

On Tuesday afternoon at Myers Park High School the number four seed Independence Patriots and the number five seed East Mecklenburg Eagles opened the Southwestern 4A Conference baseball tournament.

After East Meck’s lead off batter grounded out to Indy’s first baseman Ryan Carney,  Sabian Jones drew a walk and scored after a bad throw on a Shane Troglin single to center field.

Indy’s Raja Milton started the bottom half of the inning with a triple to the center field wall.  Noah Howie came to the plate and blasted a double to left field scoring Milton to tie the score 1-1.

With Howie on second, Brandon Moser singled scoring Howie.  After Moser stole second base, CJ Brown hit a shot to center to bring Moser home and gave the Patriots a 3-1 lead after one full inning.

For the next three innings neither team could manage any runs, but in the top of the fifth inning the Eagles went on a four run rally to take a 5-3 lead.

The Eagles picked up another run in the top of the seventh to take a 6-3 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh Indy’s Bryson Jusko led off with a walk and scored on a Noah Howie hit to the left field wall to make the score 6-4.  The Patriots were unable to add to their total and the Eagles took the victory and advanced to the second round.

Indy finished the season with an 11-13 record and went 7-7 in the conference.  It was also the final game for seniors Raja Milton, Ben Hagan, Noah Howie, Drew Harris, CJ Brown and Hoven Perez.

East Mecklenburg  100  040  1  –  6

Independence        300  000  1  –  4