Landrum loses to  St. Joseph’s 7-4
If Landrum could ever put an entire game together, watch out, head coach Ray McCallister said Friday, April 13. The Cardinals have been in position to win ball games, but one bad inning has done them in several times.
That happened again on Friday night in a 7-4 loss to St. Joseph’s.
Landrum hosted the Region II-1A leader and dominated all, but one inning of the game.
“If we could control that, we’d be sitting good,” McCallister said.
The Cardinals jumped out early, scoring a run in the second and third innings. Gus Wofford led off the second inning with a double and then scored on a double by Trevor Walker. In the third inning, Caleb Bruce reached second base on an error, stole third base and then scored on a wild pitch.
For four innings, Cardinal pitcher Ty Pittman kept the Knight’s bats off balance.
In the fifth inning, however, the St. Joseph’s offense came alive. Angelo Pahila started the inning with a walk. That was followed by a David Estes single and a Ryan Stamler bunt single.
With the bases loaded, Alex Malsch sent a shot over the head of Landrum centerfielder Connor Noland for a two-run scoring double.
The Knights would score five more runs in that inning.
The Cardinals added another run in the sixth inning. Kaleb Kuykendall walked, stole second and scored on a Jon Humphries single up the middle.
With their backs against the wall, the Cardinals made it interesting in the seventh inning. Noland walked to begin the inning and then stole second. He scored on a single by T.J. Fincher.
Two batters later Kuykendall walked, but Knight pitcher Stamler was able to close it down.
“We haven’t played bad, but we haven’t played great,” McCallister said.
This may be the most important stretch of the season for the Cardinals. The region race behind St. Joseph’s is cloudy. The Cardinals will need to win at least two of their final three region games to earn a playoff spot, McCallister said.
Landrum will host Greer Middle College in a double header on Tuesday and then will travel to Blacksburg on Thursday. Landrum’s focus will be just on Landrum, McCallister said.
The Cardinals won’t worry about what the other teams are doing until the dust settles. The Cardinals are currently 7-4 in region play.
“We got to go take care of our own business,” McCallister said. “That’s all we can do.”