Northside outlasts Starr’s Mill in Game 3

Entering Game 3 of Northside’s opening-round playoff series against Starr’s Mill, Patriots pitcher Drew Haywood knew what his job was going to be.

After burning through the bullpen in two games on Friday, Northside needed seven good innings from its senior starter in order to advance. That’s why the Patriots saved him for Game 3.

It paid off.

Haywood pitched a complete game, holding the Panthers at bay and giving the offense enough time to scratch out a few runs in a 3-2 victory.

“It was tough today,” Northside coach Dee Miller said after the game. “It was a grind. We felt like we could never get that hit with guys on. We had them early in the game, but we just kept on fighting.”

The win puts Northside into the second round of the Class 5A playoffs, where it will host Loganville on Wednesday.

Haywood allowed two earned runs, one in the first inning and one in the last. Sandwiched between those were five innings of shutout baseball, during which he allowed just three singles. In total, Haywood allowed eight hits and struck out six.

For a long while, it looked like the run Starr’s Mill scored in the top of the first inning may be enough to derail the Patriots. Northside had gotten runners on throughout the first four innings, notching doubles in the second and fourth and getting a runner to second in the third, but just hadn’t been able to bring them in.

Finally, in the bottom of the fifth and sixth, the Patriots made some progress.

They tied the game in the fifth without the benefit of a hit in the inning. Tyler Pace led off the inning by reaching on a dropped third strike, and his courtesy runner Cole Hill came across the plate two batters later.

In the sixth, Kenny Harrell knocked an RBI double and came around to score when Pace grounded to second base on a fielder’s choice.

The Patriots took a 3-1 lead into the top of the seventh, needing three outs to put Starr’s Mill away. The Panthers led off the inning with back-to-back singles, and those runners advanced to second and third with no outs on a wild pitch.

“One of the coaches asked if I wanted to get somebody loose,” Miller said. “I said, ‘No, it’s Drew’s game.’ ”

Haywood induced a popout on the infield and then struck out the next batter to put Northside within one out. After giving up an RBI single to cut the lead to 3-2, Haywood struck out the final batter to end the game.

“Really, I knew I had to go the whole game,” Haywood said. “I had to step up big. They told me I was going Game 3 for that reason.”

“That’s what we expect out of him,” Miller added. “I don’t want to take anything away from what he did, because it was outstanding. But we put him in that role because he lives for stuff like that. He loves that moment.”

Northside turns its attention to Loganville, one of the more storied baseball programs in Georgia. Haywood said he’s played with some of the Loganville players in summer ball and can share a bit of a scouting report.

The on thing he’s sure of is that it’s just another team standing in his team’s way.

“Ultimately, we want the whole thing, but Loganville is our next challenge,” he said. “We’ll take today and tomorrow off, but come next week, we’ve got to be ready for Loganville.”

This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Northside outlasts Starr’s Mill in Game 3."