By Loyd McIntosh, For The Tribune
TRUSSVILLE — The Hewitt-Trussville baseball team won the final home game of the 2023 regular season in thrilling fashion, coming from behind to defeat Oak Mountain, 2-1, in extra innings Tuesday night at Phil English Field. The win not only keeps the Huskies postseason hopes alive, but also marks the 300th victory at Hewitt for head coach Jeff Mauldin.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and Jonah Jackson on third base – pinch running for Christian Helmers – sophomore left fielder Grayson Pope executed a textbook bunt down the third base line, beating the throw and visiting Eagles of Oak Mountain in the process.
“Coach Mauldin looked at me and told me to drag. With two outs they’re probably not thinking it’s coming, so I knew if I got down to third I’d be safe,” said Pope.
Oak Mountain relief pitcher Nick McCord threw an off-speed pitch that initially caught Pope off guard, but managed to place the ball in the grass in the perfect spot to beat third baseman Peyton Parkinson’s throw. “It wasn’t the perfect pitch, but it worked,” said Pope. “I had my head down and was like ‘go, go, go, go, go, get there, get there. I never saw the throw. I just ran hard.”
Mauldin made the call to have Pope attempt a drag bunt after struggling from the plate most of the night against starter Matthew Heiberger. Mauldin said he thought Pope was trying to win the game on one swing and decided to take a different approach.
“I gave him one strike and saw that he was trying to hit 800-foot home runs, but he can really bunt and is the fastest guy on the team,” Mauldin said. “If he gets it down like he can he’s going to be safe.
“He executed it perfectly. He couldn’t have rolled the ball out there better than he did,” added Mauldin. “I hope he learns from that because he’s an upper 300s hitter but if he did that he’d be an upper 400s hitter.”
The Huskies also got a masterful performance from pitcher Will Ago. Making only his second start in his career at Hewitt-Trussville, Argo pitched all nine innings, allowing only one run in the first inning. Argo managed to pitch himself out of a handful of jams and seemed to get stronger as the game progressed into extra innings.
“I know that I’ve got the team behind me and as long as I throw strikes they’re going to make plays,” said Argo. “Nine innings was a bit much but I just trust my teammates.”
Mauldin said Argo has been one of the “main guy” coming out of the bullpen during the season. However, the Huskies came into the contest with Oak Mountain on a three-game losing streak in 7A Area 6 play, but felt Argo matched up well against Oak Mountain’s bats and decided to put the ball in the senior’s hand.
“He had been throwing so well and I felt he was a good match-up against them,” Mauldin said. “He’s a senior and it’s his last home game of his senior year. I didn’t expect him to go nine innings. I thought it we got five or six out of him that would be great.
“The thing about Argo is he wants the ball for his team and that’s what you want,” Mauldin added. “There was no way I was ever going to take him out of the game until he told me he was done or he got to a pitch count.”
Oak Mountain started the game with a single by McCord to lead off the first inning. McCord stole second and advanced to third base after Husky catcher Drew Ollis overthrew second baseman Kurt Kizer on the play. McCord eventually scored on a sacrifice fly to put Oak Mountain up 1-0.
That was the last of the scoring until the bottom of the seventh inning.
The remainder of the contest was a pitchers’ duel as both Hewitt’s Argo and Oak Mountain Heiberger were dominant from the mound. Hewitt had several chances to put runs on the board throughout the game, including stranding a runner on third base in the bottom of the sixth inning with a chance to tie.
The Huskies faced one last chance to tie or go ahead in the bottom of the seventh inning as Ollis drew a lead off walk. Mauldin sent in Tyler Blake as a courtesy runner for Ollis, who promptly stole second base on the third strike to Helmers, the first out of the inning for Hewitt.
Blake advanced to third base on a grounder by T.J. Chappel. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and Oak Mountain up 1-0, third baseman Rob Right hit a routine grounder that should have ended the contest. However, Oak Mountain starting shortstop McCord failed to get his glove on the ground allowing the ball to squirt through his legs and into short center field. Blake sprinted across the plate on the error to tie the game, 1-1, giving the Huskies new life as the game progressed into extra innings.
Argo shut down Oak Mountain’s batters in the eighth and ninth leading to the improbable bunt by Pope in the ninth to win the game, the 300th victory for Mauldin in his 11 years at Hewitt-Trussville. While proud of the accomplishment, Mauldin took the victory in stride.
“It’s more about the kids. Three hundred is awesome, andt we have a special program here, but it’s about our players,” Mauldin said. “No coach is worth this kind of recognition without the players who buy into what you do. Hopefully we can take care of business Thursday and advance past that.”
Hewitt-Trussville High School Athletics Director Lance Walker took a moment to reflect on Mauldin’s accomplishments, on and off the field, during his 11 years leading the Husky baseball program, and his positive impact on the community.
“I want to congratulate Coach Jeff Mauldin on his 300th win at Hewitt-Trussville. Coach Mauldin has led us to a state title and multiple deep playoff runs. He has built our Baseball program into a consistent 7A championship contender, and HT Baseball is well respected around the state,” said Walker. “More importantly, Coach Mauldin has poured into young men in the Trussville community for a decade. I have no doubt his student-athletes are more prepared for life because of their association with our team. We are excited about the future and thankful Coach Mauldin is the leader of our program.”
Hewitt-Trussville (20-10) will make a return trip to Oak Mountain to finish the 2023 regular season on Thursday, April 20. The winner will advance to the AHSAA State Baseball Playoffs which get underway on Friday, April 28.