Jake Gravley ’24 never doubted that everyone in Christ School’s dugout had his back. It’s still a nice feeling to be proven right.
Jake had a health issue flare up Saturday and the rest of the team was so shaken that the Greenies elected not to play the final game of a Spring Break tournament in Knoxville, Tenn. Three days later, Jake was back in the lineup at designated hitter and his RBI single in the third inning was vital to knocking off visiting Southside Christian (S.C.), 7-5.
“It’s fantastic. I can’t believe how well the team as a whole dealt with what happened and how much support I’ve had since I’ve been back at school,” Jake said.
“It’s been nothing but love from the guys, I couldn’t ask for more from them.”
Southside Christian is based out of Simpsonville, S.C., and the defending South Carolina High School League Class A state champion. The Sabres (3-4) never led Tuesday night and gave up runs to Christ School varsity baseball (4-1) in all but two innings. Jake poked a ground ball into left field to make the score 4-0 in the third.
The Greenies only had five hits as a team and committed four errors. But they continually found ways to get on base and never looked back after grabbing a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Western Carolina University recruit Brody Raleigh ’23 was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI. He scored two runs, as did Southern Wesleyan University signee Chase Gribble ’23. Ethan Rose ’24 went 1-3 with a run scored.
Jakob Iwanek ’24 drove in a team-high two runs for Christ School and slammed the door on a potential Sabres’ comeback with his relief pitching in the seventh inning. Jakob entered with the bases loaded and one out.
Jakob was asked to assess the Greenies' performance through five games.
“I think as a team, our biggest thing is going to be just getting on base,” he said.
“Yeah, we have guys like Brody and Chase who can hit the ball out, but just getting on base with the line drives. Even with our pitching, with the arms down, other guys just need to step up. I’m not a pitcher, but I’m going to come in and compete and I know other guys on our team will do the same.”
Head coach Wesley King is keeping his pitchers on a strict pitch count at this early stage of the season. This meant that starter Charlie Collins ’24 was pulled after 2.2 scoreless innings, despite not allowing a hit, issuing just one walk, and striking out four. Luka Rose ’25 reached his 40-pitch limit as well, giving up three unearned runs, one hit, and one walk to go along with four strikeouts in 2.1 innings.
Charlie and Luka will likely be the starters for two big NCISAA 4-A games over the weekend – Friday at Charlotte Latin (7 p.m.) and Saturday at Charlotte Providence Day (noon).
“I thought that both of them continued to throw well for us tonight,” Coach King said.
“We’re still kind of finding our way. Looking at some guys and trying to get them some experience because they’re young. We had some at-bats tonight that we gave away and weren’t very competitive. Overall, we’ll take it against a really good team. Southside won a state championship last year and Coach (Scott) Freeman does a really good job of preparing his team. It’s good to play good people and put our kids in some late-game situations that gives them the experience we’re going to need later on in the season.”