The St. James High baseball team’s unlikely season came to an end in the Class AAA Lower State tournament with a 10-5 loss to Chapin on Thursday night at Shark Park.
Trying to defend its Class AAA state title despite the loss of 10 seniors and seven starters, the Sharks (23-7) fell apart late in latter stages against the Eagles (22-5).
After grabbing a 4-1 lead in the first inning, St. James committed seven errors in the game and allowed Chapin to regain the lead at 5-4 in the third inning.
After tying it up at 5-all in the fourth inning, the Sharks’ normally reliable defense made costly mistakes and pitcher Preston Lane suffered his first defeat of the season.
The Eagles scored one run in the fifth, one more in the sixth and three in the seventh to close out the Sharks, who made a surprising run at the Region VIII-AAA title.
St. James’ Anders DeShields led the Sharks at the plate with a 4-for-4 performance and Lane helped his own cause by going 2-for-4, but the errors were too much for St. James to overcome.
- Photo by Ranicer Photography
