Suffolk News-Herald

Three runs in the last inning wasn’t enough for Nansemond-Suffolk Academy (NSA) on Wednesday, as the Saints fell 8-5 to Granby at the McKinney Invitational tournament at Western Branch. After five NSA errors allowed the Comets to push over five runs in the fifth and sixth, Todd Harrell, Robert Crumpler and Ryan Johnson crossed the plate in the top of the seventh before the Saints ran out of outs.

The Saints, 0-3 in the tournament, will play for seventh place at 10 a.m. Saturday morning (the opponent had not been determined at press time).

The game began as a pitching duel, as Harrell and Granby’s Ross Fetterly combined for eight strikeouts and only three hits in the first three innings. But the Saint offense got rolling in the fourth, as Bo Garner walked with one out and James Winslow reached on an infield single.

The runners advanced on a passed ball, and Jason Rock knocked a sacrifice fly into right field to bring Garner in. Jack Wright singled Winslow home, and the Saints were up, 2-0.

Bill Barnhart and Mark Young tied the score in the Comets’ half of the inning, and the Saints managed only one baserunner in the fifth.

With one out, Granby’s Scott Lakin reached on a fielder’s choice. He stole second, and made it to third on the Saints’ first error of the game. Perry Alexander singled Lakin in, moved to second on an error, and eventually scored on a wild pitch to give the Comets a 4-2 lead.

They added to their advantage in the next inning. Young led off with a walk, and Fetterly bunted him to second. Matt Davis reached on an error, and Curtis Kavanaugh reached on an infield single to load the bases. Two more errors allowed Young and Davis to score, and Chris Williford doubled to right to bring in two more runs.

Harrell was hit by a pitch (for the third time in the game) to lead off the seventh, and moved to third on wild pitches. Crumpler, Adam Keeling and Johnson walked to load the bases. Crumpler scored on a sacrifice fly by Garner, and a fielder’s choice by Winslow resulted in Keeling being forced out at third.

Two more wild pitches allowed Johnson to cut the lead to three, but Rock flew out to shortstop for the game’s final out.