Zach Minnick Lifts Logan To Sectional Title

After trailing St. Albans 1-0, Logan scored the game's next four runs in an eventual 4-2 victory in the Class AAA Region 4 Section 2 championship at Loftis Field on Thursday night. For my Daily Mail article on Logan's win, click here.

Wildcats sophomore Zach "Z" Minnick provided the game's top performance, contributing both at the plate and on the mound. Minnick finished 1-for-1 at the plate, with a two-run home run and three intentional walks. As a pitcher, Minnick tossed three and two-thirds, no-hit innings in relief.

Down 1-0, Minnick hit a two-out, two-run homer to left center field. The at-bat proved to be the lone time St. Albans pitchers opted to throw to Minnick as they issued him intentional walks in his other three at-bats. Minnick's home run gave Logan a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning. From that point, the Wildcats never trailed.

After Minnick's home run, Logan continued the rally. Troy Burgess followed with a hit and Trace Butcher reached via a walk. Then, Benji Adkins followed with an RBI single to extend the Wildcats' lead to 3-1.

Logan added another run in the fourth. With one out, center fielder Kyle Harvey hit a single to right field. Later, with two outs, Chase Preston ripped an RBI double to right to score Harvey.

St. Albans cut the deficit to two in the bottom half of the fourth inning, but Minnick limited the damage. Joey Dodrill began the threat with a walk. Bobby Grishaber reached on a one-out single to left center field. Then, Austin Harless walked to load the bases.

With one out and the bases loaded, Minnick entered to relieve Logan starter Johnny Morrison. Minnick induced Taylor Brayley into an RBI groundout. Minnick struck out the next batter to end the threat.

Minnick continued his success as the game progressed. In the final three innings, Minnick faced just one batter above the minimum.

While Minnick provided the highlights for Logan, St. Albans' Phoenix Shrewsbury had the top performance for the Red Dragons. Shrewsbury led-off the bottom of the first inning with a double down the left field line. Shrewsbury advanced to third on a passed ball. Dustin Turley scored Shrewsbury on a deep sacrifice fly to centerfield. At that point, St. Albans led 1-0. That lead held until Minnick's two-run homerun in the third.

In the bottom of the third, Shrewsbury singled with one out and Turley walked as St. Albans looked to begin another run-scoring rally. With Josh Burks at the plate though, the Logan defense ended the inning on a 4-6-3 double play. Burks hit a grounder past the pitcher's mound. Preston fielded running to his right and flipped to Trent Dalton, who stepped on the bag and fired to first base for the third out, ending the inning.