Opportunistic St. James baseball team tops rival Myrtle Beach

During St. James’ run of region titles not all that long ago, the Sharks routinely took advantage of opposing mistakes and magnified their meaning.

Tuesday night must have felt like a bit of a throwback for coach Robbie Centracchio. St. James, without doing anything impressive offensively, grabbed sole possession of first place in Region VII-AAA with a 7-3 error-laden win over a Myrtle Beach team that entered the night tied with the Sharks. The Seahawks committed three errors, distributed 12 free passes via walks and hit batters, allowed a run to score via wild pitch and balked in another.

It wasn’t pretty baseball, but a high-quality win nonetheless for the Sharks.

“I was looking up at the full moon just counting outs,” Centracchio said of the final few innings.

St. James (6-1 overall, 3-0 region) certainly wasn’t perfect. Sharks pitchers gave up five walks of their own and added errors on back-to-back errors in the sixth. However, it was an early boost from the Seahawks’ miscues that had the biggest impact.

After all, Centracchio’s team had just three, albeit timely, hits.

And St. James wasted little time getting on the board. After two Sharks were hit by pitch and a third walked, Parker Rabon drove in a pair of runs with a single to left and Cameron Dean brought in another two batters later.

They scored another in the second – with the help of another walk. By the time Myrtle Beach scored its first run on Davis Goodroe’s RBI single in the second, the Seahawks were already trailing 4-0. St. James responded by dropping two more in the third after two more walks and a Myrtle Beach errors.

“Right now we need some pitchers to step up for us,” Seahawks coach Tim Christie said. “We’re not going to beat Tire Town out of the Canal center walking 10 and hitting four. … It’s a state of mind. It’s not a physical problem. It’s a mental problem.”

Christie said he believes a course correction is not only necessary, but after three region games, there is plenty of time for the Seahawks to not only challenge for a second consecutive region championship, but win it.

Myrtle Beach (4-5, 2-1) will play its fourth region game Wednesday at home against North Myrtle Beach, while St. James will head to Lake City on Thursday.

At least for now, the Sharks own the top spot, although Centracchio made it clear that the ups and downs of the 2015 region slate could easily be repeated.

“It’s too early to tell,” Centracchio said. “Last year we were back and forth with Myrtle Beach. I wouldn’t be surprised if North Myrtle Beach and Lake City were right there with us this year, too.”

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 9:12 PM with the headline "Opportunistic St. James baseball team tops rival Myrtle Beach."