Following a split of Friday's series-opening doubleheader, Phil Campbell and Fyffe appeared set for a tense, edge-of-your-seat, win-or-go-home Game 3 on Saturday featuring two state title contenders with a combined record of 60-6 battling it out for a semifinal berth.
Phil Campbell had other ideas.
The Bobcats delivered what amounted to a first-round knockout with a five-run top of the first, taking complete control of the game before senior ace Ridge Raper (the team's strategic Game 3 ultimate weapon) even set foot on the mound. Once there, Raper did what Raper does, tossing a three-hitter for his eighth career shutout as Phil Campbell emphatically punched its semifinal ticket with a 13-0 rout.
The Bobcats (36-4) had their hands full with Fyffe pitcher Ike Rowell in Friday's Game 2 loss, but in the other two games combined they totaled 24 runs and 24 hits against a Red Devil staff that had allowed only 50 runs in 25 games all season coming into the series.
Senior leadoff man Luke Barnwell set the tone in Saturday's clincher, fouling off three two-strike pitches from Koby Harris before lining a single to left. Mason Swinney then smacked the first pitch he saw to center for an RBI double, his 18th of the season, and Phil Campbell had a 1-0 lead before the first batch of hamburgers were off the grill.
Swinney took third on a passed ball and scored on Austen Baker's sac fly. Harris then hit John Miller Lawson and Ridge Raper with pitches, and sophomore Bryant Hyde came through with a back-breaking two-run triple. Brody Dalton relieved Harris on the mound, and Hyde scored the final run of the inning on a passed ball to make it 5-0.
Raper issued a one-out walk (only his sixth of the entire season) in the bottom of the first and then settled into a groove, retiring the next eight men he faced. A five-run lead with Raper on the mound feels like fifty, but Phil Campbell's offense wasn't finished. The Bobcats tacked on six more runs in the top of the fourth, getting another RBI double from Swinney, an RBI single from Baker, a sac fly from Raper, a two-run single from Trey Leindecker and a bases-loaded walk from Barnwell to make it 11-0.
Raper retired Ty Bell on a pop-up to start the bottom of the fourth before Rowell tripled to right for Fyffe's first hit of the game. Raper responded by striking out cleanup man Tanner Cowart and getting Parker Godwin on a groundball to short to end the inning.
Lawson led off the top of the fifth with a double and later scored on a groundout by Raper. Hyde followed with a single and came home when Leindecker reached on an error to make it 13-0.
Raper gave up back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the fifth before getting a pair of groundballs and a strikeout to finish off the shutout and push the Bobcats one step closer to a Class 3A state championship. [They'll face Piedmont (33-5) next week in a rematch of the 2019 state semifinal, which the Bulldogs swept two games to none.]
Raper (8-1) finished with four strikeouts and just one walk in Saturday's clincher, throwing 45 of his 67 pitches for strikes. He notched his 25th career win at the varsity level (against only three losses) and also reached 250 career strikeouts.
Swinney recorded his team-leading 21st multi-hit game of the year, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. Hyde was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and three runs scored, and Barnwell went 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run. Baker was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Lawson went 2-for-3 with three runs scored.
Leindecker was 1-for-4 with two RBIs, and Raper also drove in two runs. Bryant Anthony walked twice, and Sage Raper scored a run.
