Live from Sumter Post 15 vs. Shelby Post 82

It's a big one tonight on Day 4 of the Southeast Regional as host Shelby Post 82 (3-0) takes on Sumter, S.C. (2-1). Game time is set for 5 p.m., so we're about 10 minutes from first pitch.

The scenario: Post 82 is the only team left in the tourney without a loss. If they win, they'll take on Randolph County (a 6-1 winner against Tuscaloosa, Ala. earlier) at 4 p.m. Monday. Randolph County has one loss and would need to beat Shelby twice to win the Regional. The second game would follow at 7 p.m. Monday.
If Shelby loses to Sumter, S.C., Randolph and Sumter would play at 4 p.m. with the winner facing Shelby at 7 p.m. in a winner-take-all situation for the Regional title.

The lineups: Sumter (Visitor): Quantrell Nelson (RF); Bruce Caldwell (SS); Travis Witherspoon (CF); Matthew Price (3B); Michael Blackmon (C); Tony Micklon (DH); Matthew Talley (1B); Joshua Hayden (LF); Robert Benenhaley (2B); Tyler Broome (P). Broome is a righty.

Shelby (Home): Seth Canipe (CF); Brett Wease (SS); Kyle Kendrick (C); Adam McFarland (3B); Julian Ridings (DH); James Gold (1B); Eric Shuford (RF); Corey Cline (2B); Jordan Robinson (LF); Sterling Cole (P). Cole is a lefty.

Top 1st
First pitch at 5:03, a strike by Cole.
Sumter goes down 1-2-3 with Cole striking out Witherspoon for the final out.
Score - Sumter 0, Shelby 0

Bottom 1st
Canipe gets Post 82 out of the box with a bang, slugging a solo home run to left. Broome escapes any further damage by retiring three straight to end the inning. He picks up his first strikeout by fanning McFarland for the third out.
Shelby 1, Sumter 0

Top 2nd
Cole pitches out of a two-out bases loaded jam to keep Sumter scoreless. Micklon and Talley notched back-to-back singles up the middle before a walk to Hayden loaded them up. Cole got Benenhaley to fly out to RF to end the threat.
Shelby 1, Sumter 0

Bottom 2nd
Gold starts the inning with a single, then Sumter catches a bit of a break on a pickoff attempt. The ball got past the first baseman on the throw, but hit the umpire, giving second baseman Benenhaley time to get to the ball and fire to shortstop Caldwell for the second out. Cline struck out for the third out.
Shelby 1, Sumter 0

Top 3rd
Wilson starts the inning with a single to RF. Caldwell flies out to deep CF as Canipe makes a solid play on the run near the fence for the first out. Sumter pulls even on 2B by Matt Price as Witherspoon (fielder's choice) comes around to score from second for Post 15's first run. On Witherspoon's fielder's choice, Post 82 second baseman Corey Cline was shook up on a force play at second. Cline shook it off, then later made a nice play to his right to end the inning.
Shelby 1, Sumter 1

Bottom 3rd
Post 82 goes back on top as Robinson slugs a one-out, solo home run to leftcenter to make it 2-1
Shelby 2, Sumter 1

Top 4th
Sumter goes down 1-2-3. The shortstop Wease ranges to his left to make a nice play on a grounder to end the inning.
Shelby 2, Sumter 1

Bottom 4th
Kendrick, the fastest high school/Legion catcher I've ever seen, reaches on a leadoff bunt single. McFarland follows with a long single to leftcenter. Kendrick only advanced to second on the play as he had to wait to see if the leftfielder could make the grab. Ridings follows with a sac bunt attempt, fielded by Broome, who tossed to third to get Kendrick on a close play. Gold grounds out to third to move McFarland to 3rd and Ridings to 2nd. Shuford grounds out to short to end the threat.
Shelby 2, Sumter 1

Top 5th
Caldwell knocks in Benenhaley with a single to CF to tie the game at 2-2. Benenhaley singled to start the inning, then moved to second on a sac bunt by Nelson. Cole walks Witherspoon, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Shelby Post 82 head coach Mike Grayson makes his second trip to the mound and hands the ball to Jacob Tisdale. Tisdale strikes out Price and gets Blackmon to ground into a force out to end the inning.
Shelby 2, Sumter 2

Cole's pitching line: 4.1 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, two walks, 1 strikeout, five flyouts, seven groundouts.

Bottom 5th
Cline robbed of at least of a double by Sumter leftfielder Joshua Hayden, who makes a diving catch just in front of the fence to his right for the first out. Robinson grounds out, Canipe reaches on an error, then Wease strikes out looking for the third out.
Shelby 2, Sumter 2

Top 6th
Sumter goes down 1-2-3 as Tisale makes quick work of Post 15.
Shelby 2, Sumter 2

Bottom 6th
Shelby goes down 1-2-3. Other than the long balls allowed to Canipe and Robinson, Broome has turned in a solid outing through six.
Shelby 2, Sumter 2

Top 7th
Tisdale posts another 1-2-3 inning. The righthander from Crest has retired eight in a row since entering the game in the fifth.
Shelby 2, Sumter 2

Bottom 7th
Cline hits into a 5-4-3 DP to end the inning. This one has settled into a nice pitcher's duel, especially over the last several innings. Baserunners have been few and far between.
Shelby 2, Sumter 2

Top 8th
Price, Blackmon and Micklon post three straight one-out singles to load the bases against Tisdale. Talley attempts a two-strike, bunt and fouls it off for the third strike and the second out.
Martin grounds to third, McFarland comes up with a tough short hop and tags the bag to end the threat.
Shelby 2, Sumter 2

Bottom 8th
Canipe reaches on an error with one out, then Wease grounds into a 6-3 double play to end the inning.
Shelby 2, Sumter 2

Attendance numbers: Sunday's day session: 2,611; Sunday's night session: 4,822. Sunday's total: 7,433. Tournament total: 25,236

Top 9th
Benenhaley leads off with a 2B and is moved over to third by Nelson on a sacrifice bunt. Caldwell follows with a double to the leftcenter gap, scoring Benenhaley to make it 3-2 with one out. Post 82 head coach Mike Grayson out to the mound to talk it over with the Shelby infield. Witherspoon reaches on an error, then Price follows with a deep, three-run home run to leftfield. Sumter now leads 6-2. Blackmon follows with a sharp single to LF. Grayson hands the ball over to Wease, who was at short. Position changes: Ridings goes to right. Robinson in centerfield. Shuford in left. Canipe at shortstop. Micklon singles to CF, moving Blackmon to third. Talley drives in Blackmon with a sac fly to left to make it 7-2. Post 82 nearly catches Micklon trying to go from first to second after the throw to the plate, but Micklon scampers back to first. The inning ends when Tyler Smith grounds into a fielder's choice force out.
Sumter 7, Shelby 2

Bottom 9th
Kendrick shows Post 82 has plenty of fight left as he homers to left to make it 7-3. All three of Shelby's runs have came by way of the long ball. Gold hits into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game. Double plays ended the last three Post 82 innings.
Final score - Sumter 7, Shelby 3

On Monday, Randolph and Sumter will play at 4 p.m. with the winner facing Shelby at 7 p.m. in a winner-take-all situation for the Southeast Regional title.

Gabe Whisnant: We'll miss ya Skip Caray (8/4)

Growing up, I learned a lot about baseball primarily from my father and a number of good coaches in Cleveland County.
What I didn't learn from them, I picked up from radio and television announcers. We didn't have cable until I my 6th grade year, so I listened to a lot of Braves games on the radio - in the car and at home. Atlanta announcers Skip (Caray), Pete (Van Wieren) and Ernie (Johnson) essentially became part of my family in the summer.
The Braves and their many fans lost a legendary part of that family Sunday when Skip died in his sleep. Caray, the son of legendary Cardinals and Cubs announcer Harry Caray and the father of current TBS announcer Chip Caray, covered Braves games on the radio and TV for three-plus decades.
No doubt, Skip knew the game but he also made it fun with his witty and sarcastic quips. He also had the unique voice, often imitated, that made him stand out. Needless to say, Braves nation and all of baseball will miss Skip the rest of this season and beyond.

It's tough to find video to go along with the audio of his call of Francisco Cabrera's game-winning hit in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS against Pittsburgh, which sent the Braves to the World Series. Here's audio of that legendary call. Oddly enough, my desktop background on my computer over the last several weeks has been of Sid Bream's slide at home plate on this play. This call will always give me goosebumps and I admit it brought a tear today.

http://www.bayblitz.com/WEB%20GIFS%201/The%20Slide%20-%20NLCS%20-%201992%20-%20Atlanta%20Braves.mp3

Braves fans will also remember this one from the 1995 World Series ...

"Mark gets the sign, the wind and the pitch here it is... swung, fly ball deep left center, Grissom on the run... Yes! Yes! Yes! The Atlanta Braves have given you a championship! Listen to this crowd! A mob scene on the field. Wohlers gets 'em one, two, three. A couple of fans rushing on the field. The Atlanta Braves have brought the first championship to Atlanta!"

A great quote from Van Wieren from a recent story by Carroll Rogers' of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
"But behind the humor there was an honesty and a commitment to telling it like he believed it to be that never, ever varied," Van Wieren said. "If he didn't like it that a game was two minutes late getting started, everybody knew about it. If he had an opinion on a player, he said it. And he had a way of saying it that was sometimes humorous. The way he could take a bad ball game, in some of those bad years especially, and turn it into a fun broadcast, whether it was by talking about something in the game or whether it was talking about something that didn't have anything to do with the game, maybe it was a movie that was coming up after the game or maybe it was a restaurant that he'd gone to. It could have been anything. He was just a very entertaining broadcaster and a very good one. The game was still the most important thing, but if game was decided by the fourth or fifth inning, people would still watch the rest of the game just to hear what he had to say about things. That's a very, very unique ability."
Full story here with quotes from Braves' players and coaches ...
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/08/03/reaction_skip_caray_dies.html