The Landrum bats were alive on Monday, April 18, stepping up in a huge region game. A win over Southside Christian School (SCS) meant the Cardinals were one step closer to a region championship in head coach Ray McCallister’s second season as head coach.
Landrum catcher Thomas Rabatie led the charge for the Cardinal bats. Rabatie finished 3-for-3 with two RBIs, including a rocket over the centerfield fence in the third inning en route to a 7-5 victory.
“(Rabatie) does a great job of waiting on his pitch and driving the baseball,” McCallister said.
The win got a little stressful in the fifth inning. Matt Pruitt had held the Sabre bats in check for the first four innings, but in the fifth inning the Sabres loaded the bases and pitcher Josh Olson hit a 1-0 pitch out of the park for a grand slam. Hunter Pruitt was warming up in the bullpen.
As Hunter Pruitt ran out to the pitchers’ mound in the fifth inning to replace Matt Pruitt, he knew what awaited him and he knew what he had to do.
The senior struck out two and got Parker Howard to hit a slow roller to first for the final out. He closed the door and carried the Cardinals to a 7-5 victory.
“(I needed to) just throw strikes,” Hunter Pruitt said. “It’s all I could do.”
Throw strikes he did. He struck out six batters in the final three innings and hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth inning to drive in a run, giving himself a little padding.
The Cardinals are now completely in the driver’s seat for region. Landrum was scheduled to play Greer Middle College Tuesday night, April 19, with the opportunity to lock down a region title. The results of that game weren’t available at press time.
“This was a big win,” McCallister said after the game.
Landrum will play Blacksburg to close out the regular season at home on Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m.