Myrtle Beach starts fast, closes with a flourish to remain unbeaten in Region VII-4A

Sometimes, what a team doesn’t know is best for them.

One thing the Myrtle Beach baseball team knows well — particularly of late — is excel on the diamond.

The only undefeated club in Region VII-4A coming into the night, the Seahawks continued their strong start in league play Tuesday, outlasting rival North Myrtle Beach 7-5.

Down by five runs early, the Chiefs steadily clawed back into contention, and on various occasions had the tying and winning run on base or at the plate. Yet, whenever a timely pitch or base hit was needed, it was Myrtle Beach answering the call.

“The mood (in the dugout) didn’t change. This is a resilient group of young men who have a lot of fun playing the game,” said Myrtle Beach baseball coach Tim Christy. “Every night, our goal is to come out and throw strikes and play great defense. Aside from three walks to start an inning — all of which scored — we pitched great and played great defense … another night with no errors.

“We feel any time we are able to do throw strikes and play great defense we have a chance to win.”

Early on, it seemed the Seahawks would be able to name the score as they got to North Myrtle Beach starter Dalton Simpson. In his three innings of work, he was peppered for five runs on seven hits.

Conversely, Myrtle Beach’s Lawson Cribb was in a groove, using pinpoint precision to punch out Chiefs batters.

The tide began to change in the third, however, with North Myrtle Beach scratching a run across in the third. It would further cut into the Seahawks lead in the fourth, scoring one run on a Cole Gasque groundout and another courtesy of a base hit by Taylor Houia to trim the deficit to 5-3.

In the fifth and sixth innings, the Chiefs had runners on the base path and no outs. On neither of those occasions could they get a run across.

“When you spot a good team five runs early, it puts you in a bad place,” said North Myrtle Beach skipper Brian Alderson. “They jumped on us early and took the wind out of us a little bit. We were able to gain some momentum, but they were able to finish.”

Unable to cut into the lead moments earlier, Myrtle Beach all but put the game away in the top half of the seventh. With runners on second and third, catcher Davis Goodroe’s base hit would bring in two, extending the Seahawks’ advantage back to four runs, 7-3.

Goodroe was 2-for-4 on the night, along with those all important runs batted in.

“North Myrtle beat us twice last year and we came into tonight wanting to make sure that wasn’t going to happen,” Goodroe said. “… It all comes down to the little stuff, and tonight I had the little stuff. Next night it may be Luke (Edwards), another night it may be Cameron (Bodge). Tonight I had it, and it’s good.”

In the bottom half of the seventh North Myrtle Beach scored twice, loading the bases and getting the winning run on. Jonah McEheney closed the door, though, getting Gasque to groundout to put a bow on another Seahawks win.

“Every night it someone else,” Christy said. “… This is a selfless, selfless group of guys. Unselfish, not jealous of who gets the credit because everyone is going to get the credit on a different night. That’s a sign of a team built for the long haul.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 10:44 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach starts fast, closes with a flourish to remain unbeaten in Region VII-4A."