MONTGOMERY — St. James beat Andalusia 3-2, 9-1, sweeping the Bulldogs in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs on Friday night.

Both teams put up solid defensive efforts in the first game, where each had hits totaling in the single digits.

In the second game, the sixth-ranked Trojans (28-6) connected on some key two-out hits to bring in runs, leading 8-0 at one point.

“In the first game, I thought we played pretty well,” AHS coach Jonathan Rasberry said. “We came out intense. We saw a very good arm (St. James’ Wilson Adams) — a guy in the upper 80s.

“We had a couple of errors that really plagued us and made a big difference,” he said.

 

St. James 3, Andalusia 2 (Game 1)

Adams struck out seven batters and allowed just four hits and one earned run in seven innings to lead the Trojans.

St. James got on board in the bottom of the third inning when Adams scored on an errant throw to third base. Adams reached on an error.

KJ Mendelsohn singled two batters later and came in to score on 1-hole hitter Jake Jabour, who reached on a double.

Andalusia cut the game to one run in the top of the fourth when second-baseman Jud Rogers scored on a squeeze play.

In the bottom half of the fourth, St. James scored its third run on an RBI single from Adams that scored CJ Duncan. Adams went 1-for-2 for the Trojans and had one RBI.

During the game, Andalusia had opportunities to add runs to the board in the fourth and sixth innings.

The Bulldogs scored their second run in the sixth when Michael McCalman singled Rogers home.

With runners on, Andalusia popped up to end the inning, and had two fly outs and one strikeout in the top of the seventh to end the game.

“We just didn’t execute,” Rasberry said. “Defensively, we played a good game, other than one inning (third). That’s what happens when you play a good team. That’s a playoffs atmosphere.

“That’s one of the best teams we’ve played all year, if not the best team we’ve played all year,” he said.

On the mound for AHS, Ross Graham pitched a good six innings, allowing two earned runs, six hits, one walk and had one strikeout for the Bulldogs.

“We came out here and played hard in the first game,” Rasberry said. “I thought it took a little wind out of us. I thought Ross Graham pitched a great game. It was just a good pitching duel.”

Mendelsohn led St. James with two hits. Jabour, Frank Moody, Duncan and Adams had one hit for the Trojans.

Zach Ward, Grayson Campbell, Quinton Maddox and McCalman had one hit each for AHS.

 

St. James 9, Andalusia 1 (Game 2)

St. James had six hits on two outs and scored five runs in the fifth inning to take an 8-0 lead over Andalusia.

Rasberry said “pitching” was the culprit in the second game, as the Bulldogs gave up seven walks.

“We walked too many,” he said. “Again, they did a good job with runners on and two outs. That’s what you’ve got to do to win a ball game.”

St. James went ahead 1-0 in the second on an RBI single from Adams that scored David Hubbard.

The Trojans added two runs in the next inning on a two-run single from Duncan to take a 3-0 lead.

All five of St. James’ runs in the fifth inning were scored with two outs.

Moody doubled Norwood home; Duncan hit a single to score Moody; Mason Handey doubled Duncan home; Jabour and Norwood drew RBI walks to score the fourth and fifth runs of the inning.

Norwood pitched a complete seven innings and allowed one run on two hits and struck out nine batters for the win.

Campbell and AHS senior Tyler Raines had one hit each for the Bulldogs.

Norwood led St. James and went 3-for-4; and Duncan went 2-for-4 with four RBIs.

“Hats off to Andalusia,” St. James coach Keith Lucky said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in a couple years. They remind me a lot of my kids I had last year.”

Andalusia will lose three seniors from this year’s squad.

Rasberry said he hopes this experience will give the returning players something to look forward to next year.

“I’m very proud of this team,” he said. “These three seniors (Jay Brewer, Stewart Studstill and Raines), they’ve done a good job. They’ve been here four years with me. I appreciate the effort they gave me.

Andalusia ended its season with a 19-11 record.