High School Baseball: Carlisle Indians Vs. Waynesville Spartans

The Southwestern Buckeye League Buckeye Division baseball title chase likely will come to a head Wednesday at Waynesville High School.

And the Carlisle Indians can’t wait.

Carlisle handed visiting Waynesville its first SWBL defeat of the season Monday at Sam Franks Field, a 7-5 decision that nudged the Indians into first place in the division.

PHOTOS: Nick Graham’s gallery from the game

“Wednesday matters … it’ll be fun for our last league game to come down to a championship,” Carlisle coach Chris Hawkins said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to beat ’em again.”

Adam Goodpaster scattered 10 hits on the mound Monday, and his RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning pushed the Indians ahead for good after the Spartans tied the game at 4-4 with a three-run top of the sixth.

Wednesday’s pitching matchup is expected to be Carlisle’s Jake Glover vs. Waynesville’s Mason Callahan. The Spartans have won four straight Buckeye titles and can clinch a share Wednesday, while a CHS victory would give the Indians the outright championship.

Carlisle is 15-8 overall and 10-1 in the SWBL. Waynesville is 14-4, 9-1, and closes league play at Northridge on Thursday.

“This is our year,” said Goodpaster, a senior headed to Mount Vernon Nazarene University. “We had one slip early against Madison, but we know we’re the best team and we’re going to show it Wednesday.”

Caleb Stewart had two hits and three RBIs and Caleb Boy was 3-for-3 with three runs and an RBI on Monday, and Glover also plated a run for the victors. J.J. Roberts’ leadoff double ignited the winning rally in the sixth.

Drake Stiles collected three hits and Kyle Leis added two for the Spartans. Hunt Doepel, Micah Spille and Callahan all drove in runs.

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“Our Achilles heel has been us in our four losses,” Waynesville coach Ryan Hill said. “I keep telling the guys I don’t feel like we’ve been beaten necessarily. We’ve lost a lot of our games that we’ve got in that right column.

“We committed too many errors and left too many guys on base, and the baseball gods have a way of punishing you for that. We’ve always got the fight, but when you’ve got to keep clawing back against good teams, sometimes you can’t get over the hump. And Carlisle’s a good team.”

Doepel pitched into the sixth inning and took the loss for the Spartans, allowing six hits and five runs. Gavin Linkous finished.

Goodpaster gave up one run in the seventh. He retired the last three batters he faced, two on strikeouts, after allowing back-to-back hits to start the frame.

“I feel like I was in control for the most part,” said Goodpaster, who struck out four and walked two. “I felt like I missed my spots too many times. You do that against a good-hitting team, they’ll put it in play and the ball will find the hole. But I wasn’t worried about getting fatigued or pitch count. I feel like the more I throw, the stronger I get. I usually don’t start getting fully loose until about the third inning.”

Waynesville loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning and could only muster one run. But the visitors rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the sixth, scoring on a bases-loaded walk to Spille, a sacrifice fly by Callahan and a wild pitch.

“Good teams aren’t going to lay down and say, ‘Hey, we’ll just try to get ’em Wednesday,’ ” Hawkins said. “They’ve got a lot of championships in their dugout, so they know how to win and how to fight. They’re a polished team, they play a tough schedule, and they’ve played in a lot of tight games. Being down three at Carlisle, they’re not sweating that.

“I wasn’t concerned about Goody because very seldom did they have two hits in a row. The only time I would really be concerned is if he wasn’t locating or couldn’t find his control. When he puts the ball around the plate, he has so many release points and different speeds. He’s just a really heady baseball player.”

Carlisle is seeking its first Buckeye championship since securing consecutive crowns in 2011 and 2012.

“We’ve played so many big games with Waynesville in my seven years,” Hawkins said. “They’ve been solid and consistent. Not to say that we haven’t been, but you can’t take anything away from what they’ve done. They’ve kind of had a stranglehold on this division the last four years, and deservedly so. They play good baseball. They play it the right way.”

The Spartans have a nonleague game at South Charleston Southeastern on Tuesday.

Waynesville 100-003-1—5-10-3

Carlisle 201-103-x—7-8-1

WP — Adam Goodpaster (7-1); LP — Hunt Doepel (4-1). Records: W 14-4, 9-1 SWBL Buckeye; C 15-8, 10-1 SWBL Buckeye