Jake Shelby pitches Enterprise-Clarke past St. Andrew's 7-1 in 3A Playoff opener

Shelby went five and two-thirds innings to get the win, and the Bulldogs ambushed the Saints from the start

RIDGELAND — Enterprise-Clarke head coach Johnny Welch couldn’t have asked for a better start to the playoffs.

Behind the pitching of Jake Shelby and a steady offensive approach, the Bulldogs got past St. Andrew’s 7-1 in Game 1 of the their First Round MHSAA Class 3A Baseball playoff series on Thursday night.

Game 2 is set for Friday night at Enterprise at 7 p.m. If necessary Game 3 will be back at St. Andrew’s on Monday.

“Jake has been solid for us all year on the mound and that is what we expect from him tonight is go out there and throw strikes,” Welch said. “Offensively we’ve been on spurts where we hit good and then not hit good and tonight we put a game plan in to move runners over, bunt and they executed.”

Enterprise struck first in the top of the first on a RBI fielders choice by Shelby to take a 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs extended their lead to 2-0 in the second on a RBI single to left by Memphis Adams.

Enterprise increased their lead to 4-0 in the third on RBI singles by Ridge Jackson and a RBI safety squeeze bunt single by Clark Galyean.

Trace Roy had a solo home run to left to extend the lead to 5-0 in the fourth and the Bulldogs got a 2-run double to right by Blake Wilkins to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead in the fifth.

The Bulldogs scored in every inning except the sixth and seventh innings and a minimum of five batters come to the plate and left 14 runners on base.

Wilkins, Jackson and Aiden Arellano all had two hits to lead Enterprise (12-16) offensively.

“We had to come in and make positive things happen every inning offensively. Extend at-bats and make them have to make plays,” Welch said. “We chased their guy out of the game early and we were able to accomplish our goal tonight and now we have to come ready to play tomorrow at home.”

Shelby (3-3) got the win on the mound for the Bulldogs tossed five and two-thirds innings, scattering five hits, giving up a run, walked three and had six strikeouts.

“Was able to locate fast ball especially on the corners and elevating and was able to get a lot of swings and misses,” Shelby said. “The goal tonight was to score three runs and we could win this game and we exceeded that. We need to keep this energy up tomorrow at home.”

St. Andrew’s (17-9) lone run came in the sixth on a single and an error. Matthew Azordegan (6-2) took the loss on the mound for the Saints.

“Everything went their way tonight, but they had a great plan and they came out and ambushed us from the start,” said St. Andrew’s coach Mark Fanning. “They made plays and created opportunities for themselves every inning and we were a little bit lost offensively and we didn’t execute pitching wise. We just got to move forward to tomorrow and try to get back here Monday. ”