By Lee Davis
Journal Sports Writer
The coming of spring means that lots of folks get out their brooms and start cleaning house.
Much the same could be said in last weekend’s rounds of the state high school baseball playoffs.
In two dramatic series, local teams ended the seasons of high profile rivals with sweeps.
In Class 5A, Briarwood used two impressive pitching performances to eliminate fifth-ranked Homewood by scores of 14-1 and 5-2.
In Class 6A, Spain Park stunned defending Class 6A champion Pelham with 6-2 and 5-3 victories.
The Lions swept the Patriots despite the fact that Homewood had beaten Briarwood twice in three meetings during the regular season.
Ethan Simmons tossed a four-hitter to effectively handcuff the Patriot batters in the first game. Briarwood’s bats went wild in two innings, scoring eight runs in the fourth and six runs in the seventh.
John Michael Pegusky had three hits, including a pair of doubles, in the first game. Jake Bracewell had three hits in four at-bats, highlighted by a two-run homer in the sixth inning.
Simmons helped his own cause with a double and an RBI.
“When you get that much offense, it really helps a pitcher,” he said. “Winning that first game was big.”
The second game was just as impressive. Bracewell took the mound and scattered seven Patriot hits. Homewood took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, thanks to a single from Adam Stewart, but the Patriots wouldn’t seriously threaten again.
Bracewell’s control was a key to the victory, as the Lion pitcher threw 60 strikes in just over 100 pitches.
Brayden Housel’s RBI single cut Homewood’s lead to 2-1 in the fifth inning. Housel then scored on a Patriot error to tie the game at 2-2.
Pegusky’s ground ball scored the go-ahead run. Tim Robertson’s triple and a Homewood wild pitch in the sixth led to a pair of runs that closed the margin to 5-2.
“We benefited from two outstanding pitching jobs,” said Briarwood coach Steve Renfroe. “Our guys were focused and competed well.”
Homewood’s season ends at 21-12. Briarwood, now 18-10 for the year, moves on.
Spain Park came into its series with Pelham determined to show that the Jaguars were not intimidated by the defending champs. They signaled confidence and aggressiveness in the first inning of the second game by attempting to steal home with two outs.
“We wanted to send a message that we were going to be the aggressor here in this series,” said Spain Park coach Will Smith. “I think we responded to it.”
In both games Spain Park jumped to 2-0 leads and never looked back.
Austin Haight had two hits and drove in two runs for the Jaguars in the opener. Mason Duke earned the win on the mound, giving up only four hits while striking out six Panthers.
Spain Park scored four runs in the fifth inning to secure the victory. With the bases loaded, the Jags’ Jon Sumner hit a shot that came off the glove of Pelham’s first baseman. The ball flew over the head of the second baseman, and Spain Park took advantage of the confusion to score two runs.
Haight added a sacrifice fly to score another run. Sumner added another hit.
In the second game, Spain Park moved to a 5-1 and hung on for dear life to earn the sweep. In Pelham’s last at-bat, the Panthers earned three consecutive hits to load the bases before scoring a run on a walk. A grounder scored another run to cut the margin to 5-3. Then senior pitcher Josh Rich struck out two Pelham batters in a row to get the win.
The victory had to be particular sweet for Rich, who had been the victim when Pelham rallied from a 5-1 deficit to take a 6-5 playoff win a year ago.
“Everything was racing through my mind,” Rich said. “But there was no way I was coming out of the game.”
Parker Hall had two hits and scored two runs for Spain Park in the second game. Dalton Brown and Hunter Dawson each had two hits.
The Jags, now 32-16 for the season, will host Northview Friday in the Class 6A quarterfinals.
After suffering a one-sided defeat in the first game of the series, Mountain Brook rallied with wins on Friday night and Saturday to eliminate Hewitt-Trussville in Class 6A play.
After falling 15-3 in the opener, the Spartans rebounded with a 5-1 win in the second game and a 3-2 nail-biter the following day to clinch the victory.
In game three, Mountain Brook took a 2-0 lead in the second inning after Pete Berryman’s sacrifice into centerfield and J.D. Kubiszyn’s RBI single.
The Huskies rallied with two runs in the top of the fifth inning, thanks in part to a two-out error.
Undaunted, the Spartans rebounded to earn what would prove to be the winning run in the bottom of the fifth. Kubiszyn’s shot to centerfield with two out scored Drew Odum. Odum went three for three for Mountain Brook. Davis McDougal, relieving starter Burt Bellande, earned the win.
The previous day, Mountain Brook responded to the decisive opening loss with an impressive win, thanks in part to the pitching of Alan Hale, who tossed a four-hitter with five strikeouts.
“Alan is one of those kids who is a great competitor,” Spartan coach Lee Gann said. “He always wants to pitch, no matter how tough the situation.”
Odum knocked in Parks Shoulders on a groundout in the second inning to give Mountain Brook a lead it never relinquished. Berryman had two hits and two runs for the winning cause, and Odum had a single and three RBIs.
Mountain Brook advances with a 28-12 record for the season and meets Sparkman in the quarterfinals.
The news wasn’t quite so good for the other Class 6A team representing the city of Hoover as Hillcrest of Tuscaloosa swept the Hoover Bucs 7-4 and 9-2.
Lee Clark’s three-run homer in the seventh inning gave the Patriots the victory in the first game.
In the second game, Hoover’s efforts were hampered by four errors that produced three unearned Hillcrest runs. The Bucs’ best offensive producer was catcher Billy Reed, who had two hits, including a two-run double.
Hoover ended its season with a 35-13 record.
