CARY, N.C.—Looking overmatched for the majority of their final game of the National High School Invitational, the Farragut (Tenn.) High Admirals made a late charge to beat DeSoto Central High 8-7 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex on Saturday.
The Admirals erased a three-run deficit in the final frame after notching just one hit through the first six innings, with third baseman and uncommitted junior John Painter ending the game with an infield single to drive in the winning run. Shortstop and Tennessee commit Duncan Pence managed Farragut’s first ball to hit the outfield grass, a double that brought in the first two runs for the home team in the seventh.
“To our guys’ credit, I’m not sure we played real, real well a lot of the game, but we played well when it mattered,” Farragut coach Matt Buckner said. “To our credit, we didn’t panic and still kept battling hard to the end.”
The Jaguars got on the board first, courtesy of a four-run fourth inning. Admirals starter and junior lefty Jacob Naumoff gave up a leadoff walk before two miscommunicated bunt plays loaded the bases with none out. DeSoto catcher and Mississippi commit Carson Klepzig drove in two runs and the squad’s top prospect, Austin Riley, brought in another with a double, his second hit of the game.
Naumoff completed four innings and allowed four runs on eight hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Peter Pratti threw two innings in relief, allowing one run on two hits, fanning two batters. Duncan Pence threw the final inning for the Admirals and allowed two runs on two hits with a walk and a strikeout.
“That was (Naumoff’s) second career start, so it’s a big stage for a second career start,” Buckner said. “I thought he did well. We messed up the bunt coverage, which was a huge play and gave them probably at least one extra run, and we also made a mistake in the first-and-third situation that I felt cost us a run also.”
Batting through their order, the Jaguars might have given starter Dallas Woolfolk a little too much time to rest on the bench before he took the mound for the bottom half of the frame. Cruising early, hitting 90 with an easy throwing motion and sitting between 86-89, the righthander—committed to Mississippi—lost the strike zone in the fourth, hitting three batters, walking two, and throwing two wild pitches.
“He lost his ability to throw strikes,” Buckner said. “Other than that, he was tough. He had a good breaking ball going, and when he had that breaking ball going with the good fastball he was a really tough customer, but we kept battling pretty well.”
DeSoto center fielder Colin Coates had three hits and scored three runs for the visitors, notching a double in the fifth, and launching a two-run home run in the seventh to extend his team’s lead. Drew Golden added three singles for the Jaguars.
Woolfolk went four innings and allowed four runs (two earned) on one hit with three walks and five strikeouts. Spencer Price came on in relief and allowed four runs (one earned) on three hits in three innings with a walk and three strikeouts.
“This is my 12th year (as a coach) and I’ve never been to any regular-season tournament like this,” Buckner said. “It’s a pretty tremendous experience, high-level baseball, and DeSoto is a really good team; a really talented team.
“We played four of the better teams there were, in Lambert, College Park, DeSoto and College Station. Every team we played was very talented.”
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