How Calvary Day beat cross-town rival Savannah Christian to win a state baseball championship

Calvary Day baseball coach Phillip Lee knew he had a talented squad entering this year after the Cavs made a deep run to the Class 3A state finals last season, and returned a wealth of talent.

The Cavs tested themselves in a spring break trip to Las Vegas against some of the top teams in the nation, gaining a boost of confidence as they approached the postseason.

On Monday, the Cavs closed out a memorable campaign in style as they swept cross-town rival Savannah Christian in two games at Georgia Southern’s J.I Clements Stadium to win the Class A-3A Private School State Championship The Cavs won the first game 9-1 and edged the Raiders 4-3 in the second.

It was the third state baseball title in Calvary Day history. The Cavs won Class A titles in 2005 and 2007 under coach Kevin Farmer.

“I’m very proud of our guys. It was something that was a long time coming for us. I thought we were in a good spot coming back and we were excited about the opportunity to go chase it again this year and the good Lord let it come to fruition,” said Phillip Lee, in his 11th season leading the program at his alma mater.

“We just stayed the course all season long. We had some ups and down and we talk about how adversity is going to strike. It’s inevitable and it’s going to happen. It’s how they responded time and time again that was the biggest sign for me that we were ready to continue to compete.”

In the second game, Savannah Christian had leads of 2-1 and 3-2, but Calvary kept battling and came back to tie it up with Quinn Johnson’s RBI single up the middle in the top of the fifth.

Calvary Day took the lead in the top of the seventh. Waylan Heidik led off with a single with one out and Dalton Kelley followed with a walk. Griffin Graham came in to pitch for the Raiders, and Max Arnold greeted him with an infield single to load the bases. Then Johnson came through in the clutch again with an opposite field sacrifice fly to bring in the go-ahead run.

The Cavs brought in Ryan Wallace to close things out. The Roanake College-bound senior got the first two batters out before Harding Dennis kept the Raiders’ hopes alive with a line drive single to right. But Dennis was caught in a rundown trying to steal second when Wallace spotted him breaking for second over his shoulder, stepped off the rubber and ran toward the runner before flipping the ball to shortstop Russell Christian, who applied the tag to end the game, and the season.

Cutter Powell started the second game for Calvary and allowed two earned run on five hits in five innings. Noah Bauer picked up the win with a scoreless sixth, setting up Wallace for the save.

In Game 1, the Cavaliers rolled to a 9-1 win behind a strong pitching performance from southpaw Quinn Johnson. The junior struck out five and walked two, while allowing one earned run in 6 1/3 innings.

The Cavs gave Johnson all the support that he needed in the bottom of the first inning when they scored six times. Johnson got things started with a run-scoring double over Harding Dennis’ head in right field. SCPS starter Brody Schuman had a rough first frame as Ryan Wallace added an RBI single and then Russell Christian brought in another run when he was hit by a pitch. That set up Calvary catcher Waylan Heidik who blasted a shot deep into the left field corner for a three-run double that put the Cavs up 6-1.

Brody Dawson went 2 for 3 with two RBIs in Game 1 and Max Arnold was 1 for 3 with a double and a run for the Cavs, who finished the season with a 29-7 record.

“We’ve been very blessed all year long, this is probably the deepest we have been on the mound since I’ve been here,” said Lee, who announced in late April that he would leave Calvary at the end of this season to take a job as an assistant baseball coach at Benedictine, where he will also have the title of Director of Athletic Development. “It didn’t matter who we went to, we felt very confident in their ability to get the job done. Quinn (Johnson) threw a gem in Game 1 with Scottie (Budrow) coming in to finish it off.

“Cutter (Powell) just competes,” Lee said. “He didn’t have his best stuff, but he gave us five hard-fought innings and kept us in the ball game. Bauer has been an up-and-comer for us all year and he had a great inning to get us to Wallace. We talked about wanting our arms to be fresh for the playoff run and have our guys come into situations we thought they could really thrive in, and it was nice to go to Wallace in the seventh to finish things off.”

Johnson was 2 for 3 with two RBIs in the second game for Calvary, and Powell drove in a run with a groundout. Weston Hughes went 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs for the Raiders, and senior Dawson Kelly pitched well — going 6 1/3 innings and allowing three earned runs on six hits.

“They (Calvary Day) jumped out on us, they had a good game plan,” said SCPS coach Matt Oglesby, whose team finished with a 26-15 record. “We scored the first run to gain a little momentum, and they came back and scored six. The way we play — it’s hard to come back from that, but we fought hard. In the second game, that was just baseball. They got the big hit when they needed it and tonight we didn’t. Kudos to them, and I’m happy for Phillip (Lee).”

Oglesby said looking back at the season, he was surprised that his squad made the run to the finals.

“We battled injuries throughout the year with these three seniors (Harding Dennis, Jack Stahl and Dawson Kelly), but our underclassmen fought harder than anybody I’ve ever coached to keep us in it,” Oglesby said. “I’m super proud of these guys and excited for the future.”

Calvary dominated in the playoffs going 10-0 and sweeping all five of its opponents.

“After the trip to Las Vegas I thought our season really turned,” said senior Brody Dawson, the standout third baseman who has signed to play at Gordon State College. “The competition we faced there gave us that little extra ‘oomph’ that we need and I feel like that propelled us for the rest of the year.”

Wallace agreed with Dawson’s assessment and said the experience playing in the Vegas tournament paid off in the playoffs

“I think that it helped us, 100%,” Wallace said. “There was no arm we saw after Vegas that was better than any arm we saw in Vegas … and we hung four to six runs in every game there, so we knew we could punch anybody else in the face no matter who they threw on the mound.”

Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at [email protected]. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Calvary Day sweeps Savannah Christian to win state baseball championship