• Toros take 2016 title, deny Bobcats’ repeat

MOBILE, Ala.—Near the midnight hour Wednesday night hopes of either Spanish Fort or Theodore capturing the BayBears High School Classic championship before dawn appeared unlikely. The two finalists had been locked at 4-4 since the fifth inning and headed into extra innings. But the Toros rallied in the top of the eighth and held on for the 7-4 win in the early minutes of Feb. 25.

Thomas Johnston delivered a double in the top of the eighth inning to score Ryan Brooks for the go-ahead run and Austin McNeill drove in Johnston then scored himself on his single, followed by a wild three-base-error for the final score.

Earlier Spanish Fort’s Hunter Stokes went 3-4 and scored a run. The short-stop singled in the third and fifth innings and doubled in the seventh to pace the Toros offense. Johnston also had an RBI sac-fly and Garland Hurst went 2-for-4 and scored once. Alex Knight added a sac-bunt in the top of the eighth.

Tyler Mcleod got the win for SFHS after 5.1 shutout innings. He came in with the score tied at 4-4 and struck out five, walked two and gave up two hits.

Caleb Goffey took the loss for Theodore. He went 7.1 innings, walked one and struck out six. Jonathan Cribb went 3-for-4 with an RBI for Theodore while Walker Thompson had a triple and scored a run.

The Bobcats started strong and led 4-0 after two innings. The Toros got three runs in the top of the third and tied it in the fifth.

Spanish Fort coach Brent Boyd said he thought his team might get off to a slow start after sitting for three hours after their 7-5 afternoon win over Foley in the first semifinal of the day. Theodore then defeated McGill-Toolen Catholic 4-3 in the second semifinal.

“We came out a little sluggish at the beginning of the game, but I anticipated that a little bit,” Boyd said. “Because you’re sitting at the ball park all day. Once they found their swings, they realized that they were still in the game and had a chance to win. It was a test of the patience of what we had gone through. It was a weeklong tournament that basically turned into a two-week tournament. So what the guys went through to come out on top was a good thing."

He added that McCleod came through on the mound for his second win in as many outings.

“He did a great job for us tonight. Tyler’s one of our new guys whose going to do a lot of good things for us later on.”

The Bobcats won the tournament last year. Theodore coach Bo Smith said his team simply made too many errors down the stretch.

“You can’t beat a team like Spanish Fort and have that many errors,” he said. “We actually had more hits (8-6) than they did, but we made too many mistakes and that’s not how we play.” 

SF sophomore Jackson Rogers got the start, gave up only one hit, one walk and struck out four but fell behind with four runs scored.

“Jackson didn’t have his best stuff tonight, but we are going to need him down the line and I have no doubt he will be a big part of our success as we get going.”


The Toros last won the tournament in 2009. Boyd said he hopes the 2016 tournament title bodes well for the rest of the season.

“Our goal is to continue to get better,” he said. “Get guys in the right position, or put guys in that will help us with our long-term goal of what we want to do. When things don’t go your  way you have to find another and kick-start it and they did that tonight. That’s what I love about this tournament. It continues to put us into position to play great baseball teams to see how our guys react. And they did a great job of that this week.”

In the 7-5 semifinal win over the Lions, the Toros were led by Grant Peterson who went 2-for-3 and scored one run. He doubled in the first inning and singled in the fourth. 

Elliot Johnson got the win for Spanish Fort. He tossed 2.2 shutout innings, struck out two, walked none and gave up four hits. 

Foley took an early 2-0 lead on a two-run home run by Taylor Gibson that scored McLean White. The Lions converted a triple play in the second inning. 

Spanish Fort got two runs back in the second. Spanish Fort scored on an RBI single by Hunter Stokes and went up for good on an RBI triple by Austin McNeill to score Alex Knight. There were seven lead changes in the game.